Mr. Brooks (2007)

It has been quite a while since I saw Kevin Costner in a movie that I thought was even decent - but finally after so many years, I found one. Costner plays Mr. Brooks, a successful businessman, who lives a normal life by day in the suburbs with his wife and daughter. By night however, this movie takes a dark twist as it is revealed that he is actually a serial killer with an addiction for the grotesque. William Hurt lends a supporting role as the personification of Costner's addiction, and is constantly at his side urging him to give in to his guilty pleasure. Things turn dicey as his latest murder is witnessed by a peeping tom, played by Dane Cook, but rather than turn Mr. Brooks in, he wants in on the fun.



This is a very creepy movie, but quite fascinating, as it explores the depths of Mr. Brooks' twisted psychological disorder. Costner and Hurt both do an incredible acting job, and it is their interplay that makes this movie really compelling. Sometimes they argue, sometimes they agree, sometimes they try to convince each other of some action - all the while portraying the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde halves of the larger Mr. Brooks. In the end I was highly disturbed, and as usually happens with this type of movie, wondered if I was imagining my reality. But I never enjoyed being disturbed or prodded into solipsism quite as much as I did while watching this movie.