Mr. Brooks

June 5, 2009 - Kevin Costner has trouble controlling his killer instinct in this would-be thriller from 2007. William Hurt, Dane Cook, Demi Moore and Marg Helgenberger co-star.

Costner plays Earl Brooks, owner of a successful box company and Portland, Oregon's newly-christened businessman of the year. Turns out Earl also moonlights as the city's notorious Thumbprint Killer who stalks couples, murders them, arranges their bodies in artistic poses (all the better for photographing) then meticulously cleans up after himself.

Over the years, Earl has managed to avoid capture by the police (Demi Moore) and, somehow, he's managed to hide his addiction to killing from his wife (Marg Helgenberger) and daughter. He's also managed to hide his blood-thirsty alter-ego, Marshall, from his friends, family and secretary. But, then, along comes Dane Cook, who threatens to expose Earl's secret life when he snaps some pictures of the Thumbprint Killer at work.

Overall review: ** I managed to watch the whole thing but, overall, this film is pretty much a mess. I think its main problem is that there are too many plot lines going on at once. There's Earl struggling with his addiction to killing; there's Earl trying to avoid capture by the police; there's Earl dealing with family problems; there's Earl dealing with Dane Cook. Then, there's Demi Moore, whose cop character is going through a messy divorce at the same time that a killer she captured has escaped from prison and is coming to hunt her down. The movie tries to tie up all these plot lines into a neat little ending but, by that point, the mess is just too big.