Mr. Brooks
| Mr. Brooks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Bruce A. Evans |
| Written by | Bruce A. Evans Raynold Gideon |
| Produced by | Executive Producers: Sam Nazarian Adam Rosenfelt Marc Schaberg Thomas Augsberger Producers: Jim Wilson Kevin Costner Raynold Gideon |
| Starring | Kevin Costner Demi Moore William Hurt Dane Cook |
| Cinematography | John Lindey |
| Edited by | Miklos Wright |
| Music by | Ramin Djawadi |
| Distributed by | MGM |
Release dates | June 1, 2007 [1] |
Running time | 120 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $37,436,201 |
Mr. Brooks is a thriller film directed by Bruce A. Evans and starring Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Dane Cook and William Hurt. It was released on June 1, 2007.
Plot
Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is an upstanding business owner and family man, recently honored as the Portland Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year. In his secret life, Earl is a serial killer, hounded by his doppelganger, manifested as the gleefully sadistic alter ego Marshall (William Hurt). While he has refrained from killing for the last two years, Brooks feels the urge rising once again and, spurred on by Marshall, murders a couple in their home. Despite inadvertently killing them while their curtains are open, Earl follows his meticulous modus operandi, destroying all clothing and cleaning up the crime scene before departing.
The next day Earl attends his weekly meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, where he vaguely reveals his addiction without elaborating on the nature. Soon afterwards, Earl’s daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) returns home, having abruptly dropped out of Stanford. When pressed on her motives for abandoning college, Jane reveals that she’s pregnant, but Earl fears his daughter is hiding a much worse secret. Even more worrisome is the appearance of “Mr. Smith” (Dane Cook), a peeping tom who photographed Earl murdering the dancing couple. Fully aware of Earl's “Thumbprint Killer” alter ego, Smith demands to accompany Earl on his next murder, which Earl agrees to. As they troll for a victim, however, Smith becomes frustrated with Earl's meticulous preparations and nervous over Portland Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), chief investigator of the Thumbprint Killer case who hounds Smith at every turn, suspecting he's hiding something. Tracy herself is distracted by personal problems, including a messy divorce from her sleazy ex-husband (Jason Lewis) and a violent serial killer named Meeks that she put away and has escaped to kill her because of it.
One day, Earl is shocked to find detectives outside his house, only to realize they are interested in speaking with his daughter, who left school following the murder of a student with a hatchet. Jane pleads innocence during questioning, but Earl realizes that his daughter may be guilty and afflicted with the same “addiction” he has. To deflect suspicion, he travels to her college campus in disguise and replicates the hatchet murder, making it appear the two murders are the work of a serial killer. At the same time, Earl and Marshall form a plan to address Mr. Smith's blackmail scheme, while researching Detective Atwood's background. Earl reevaluates his own life and decides that the best course of action for his family and friends is that he be murdered, a decision that infuriates Marshall. The plan involves taking Mr. Smith out on a promised thrill killing which would give Smith the confidence to kill Earl, to tie up loose ends. Meanwhile, Tracy gets a search warrant for Mr. Smith’s apartment, believing him to be the Thumbprint Killer, but finds it empty, containing only an invoice with the furniture's forwarding address. Upon investigating the address, she discovers it to be Meeks' hideout. In the ensuing gunfight, Tracy injures both Meeks and his girlfriend, who commit suicide rather than be arrested.
Earl and Smith infiltrate a high-rise apartment and murder another couple, revealed as Atwood's ex-husband and his divorce attorney. Smith, who had urinated all over the floor at the apartment out of nervousness, is now exhilarated by the killings and pulls a gun on Earl, who then reveals his intention to die at Smith's hands and spare his family the shame of his eventual arrest. The two arrive at a cemetery, where Earl stands in front of an open grave and beckons Smith to shoot him. Smith squeezes the trigger, but the gun doesn't fire. Earl, who reveals that he disabled Smith's gun should he change his mind, reveals that he wants to live to see his grandchild. Earl murders Smith with a shovel and rolls him into the grave. With Smith’s urine providing the only DNA sample of the Thumbprint Killer, Earl is beyond suspicion. After the killings, Earl returns to his normal life, anonymously calling Atwood to find out why she became a cop, before hanging up. Despite his pretending to be Mr. Smith, Atwood realizes its not the same man. Later that night, Earl goes upstairs to bed, stopping in his daughter's bedroom. As he kisses his sleeping daughter, her eyes shoot open, and she stabs him in the neck with a pair of scissors and watches him bleed to death. Then she puts on his glasses. Earl wakes up, shuddering at the nightmare, and prays feverishly. The film ends with the exasperated voice of Marshall saying, 'Why do you fight it so hard Earl?'
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kevin Costner | Earl Brooks |
| William Hurt | Marshall |
| Demi Moore | Detective Tracy Atwood |
| Dane Cook | Mr. Smith/Mr. Bafford |
| Marg Helgenberger | Emma Brooks |
| Danielle Panabaker | Jane Brooks |
| Traci Dinwiddie | Sarah Leaves |
| Matt Schulze | Meeks |
| Jason Lewis | Jesse Vialo |
| Reiko Aylesworth | Sheila |
| Ruben Santiago-Hudson | Hawkins |
| Lindsay Crouse | Captain Lister |
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack features Ramin Djawadi's score and the song "Vicious Traditions" by The Veils.
Blu-ray & DVD release
The film was released on October 23, 2007 on both high-definition Blu-ray Disc and standard-definition DVD.