Mr. Brooks
March 27th, 2009
A: Mr. Brooks is being aired a lot on Showtime, and everytime I come across it, I end up watching the whole thing…resulting in three viewings over the past couple of weeks. I’ve always been fascniated with this movie because of how clever and original the plot is. The role of Marshall (William Hurt) is genius, and the scenes are perfectly choreographed when he and Mr. Brooks (Kevin Costner)–or “Earl” as Marshall calls him–make the same movements and laugh simultaneously. The ongoing dialogue between Marshall and Mr. Brooks makes it clear why it’s so hard for Mr. Brooks to resist the urge to kill. Marshall is what drives that urge, yet he is such an intelligent part of Earl’s subconscious, which is hit home beautifully in the scene when they are researching Detective Atwood (Demi Moore). As calm and intelligent is Earl is, it is usually Marshall who contributes the clever ideas. Even in the scene when Earl is doing the crossword puzzle, it’s Marshall who answers all of the questions. This is a really cool way to show how integral Marshall is to Earl’s whole psyche…which also explains why killing is so integral to Earl’s whole psyche. Beyond this, Demi Moore’s performance is wonderful, as is Dane Cook’s as Mr. Smith. I’m glad I’ve given this one a few more spins, and as much deeper as I could probably delve into the psyche of all the characters, I love it that the overall theme of the movie seems to be one of karma. Every one of the characters get what they deserve, both good and bad. Very cool overall.
Click here to buy Mr. Brooks on Amazon.com. (I actually bought it when I navigated there to get the link. :))
