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Reviews

Mr. Brooks

A film with a split-personality

By BRETT MICHEL | May 30, 2007

2.0 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Mr. Brooks.

The press notes for Bruce A. Evans’s thriller begin with a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If any film could be said to suffer from multiple-personality disorder, this would be the one(s), given the numerous plot lines (enough for a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel) and schizoid tonal shifts. Kevin Costner gives a fine performance as Earl Brooks, devoted Christian patriarch, philanthropist, and his community’s “man of the year.” If only his family and friends could see and hear Marshall (William Hurt), who’s clearly enjoying himself as our hero’s imaginary Dark Side, urging the good Mr. Brooks to “kill!” during long conversations. Comedian Dane Cook plays a voyeuristic photographer who gets a lead on the Thumbprint Killer and winds up trying to blackmail him. Demi Moore is hilariously awful as a trust-fund police detective who’s tracking Brooks, but why does she bother when there’s a killer on every ridiculous corner of the screen?

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