Mr. Brooks

Review in a Hurry:  Suspend your disbelief and tag along with Kevin Costner on fly-by-night murder missions. Do it because you wish your alter ego/imaginary friend were as delectably enabling and witty as William Hurt. Oh, and news flash, Dane Cook can act!

The Bigger Picture:  Ever secretly hope that your neighbor, the one with the perfect job, the ideal wife, the clean home and the cute daughter, was really a sociopathic killer? If you have had that feeling, you probably felt ashamed right after. But then you grinned—hey, it’s a satisfying fantasy.

Director Bruce A. Evans has made a horror movie that is sickly fascinating in that same way. It’s a real achievement, given it isn’t set in some Eastern European body-harvesting dungeon. The closeted serial killer (Kevin Costner) is Mr. Brooks, a stand-up guy with the model home and the hot wife (Marg Helgenberger). By night, he cruises around with his imaginary friend (William Hurt) and murders innocent people. Complications ensue when Costner suspects his daughter (Danielle Panabaker) may have inherited the gene for murder. Complications really freaking ensue when a young oddball (Dane Cook) demands a ride-along with Mr. Brooks.

There is some refreshingly good, old-fashioned storytelling in this movie. The plot advances, the stakes rise. We could do without the subplot about a detective (Demi Moore) on the chase. It’s too bad Ms. Moore said yes; one gets the feeling her part was originally conceived to be much smaller. She has her own mini movie here, and it doesn’t compare to the story of Mr. Brooks.

What a joy it is to watch Costner and Hurt banter. And there’s Dane Cook, riding shotgun, convincingly unaware of Hurt’s presence. This is an actor’s movie, and this cast is so invested that at times it feels like you’re in some off-off-Broadway playhouse watching unknown talents flex their actor wings. Helgenberger, in particular, is great. She could have done daft, doting wife. Instead, she does well-adjusted woman. Yes, Mr. Brooks really is so twisted that his own wife doesn’t suspect a thing. And, no, she’s not an idiot. If that’s not a frightening take on marriage and community leadership, then I don’t know what is.

The 180—A Second Opinion:  Kevin Costner hasn’t had this much fun since Bull Durham. But a crooked, absurd, overstuffed plot makes it hard for the audience to have any fun. It doesn’t help that the imaginary friend (William Hurt) is more compelling and grounded than all the real characters combined.