I’ve always been a little baffled by the appeal of Kevin Costner. He has this bland, monotone way with dialogue—it seems as though he’s reading his lines directly from the script, and wouldn’t dare risk an inflection until he’s finished the first read-through. That’s not to say I hate all Costner performances. He’s just better in roles that are embellished by this quirk. In Dances with Wolves, he had to sound as though he was reading from his diary the whole time. I even liked him in Waterworld, where he hardly spoke at all. And in Mr. Brooks, his delivery makes him sound a little bit off, which is perfect for a family man who was just voted “Man of the Year,” but moonlights as a serial killer.
Yes, Mr. Brooks has a slight addiction to bloodshed. He’s been going to AA meetings to help suppress these urges, but that little devil on his shoulder keeps egging him on. Temptation is beautifully personified by Marshall (Hurt), who’s not so much Brooks’ alter-ego as he is a bad-influence type of imaginary friend. Marshall periodically pops up to offer Brooks fathering advice, remind him of little details he might forget and, of course, persuade him to massacre copulating couples for kicks. Time stops whenever Brooks and Marshall converse, and these often hilarious dialogues are the highlight of the film. (So that’s where Costner’s personality’s been hiding all these years—in Hurt!)
When Brooks finally succumbs to Marshall’s nagging and falls off the anti-killing wagon, matters become complicated. Open curtains betray Brooks’ crime to a camera-toting peeping Tom (Cook), who blackmails Brooks into giving him a murder-spree ride-along. And since Brooks is being trailed by an obsessive detective, this isn’t the best time to drag along a sidekick.
Moore plays the detective, who comes with a heap of her own subplots, and as amusing as her problems are, for much of the film, they feel like they’re part of a separate movie. It all ties in to Mr. Brooks by the end, but sometimes even when you tie all of your plot threads together, you only wind up with a tangled mess. Nevertheless, in spite of the convoluted finale, Mr. Brooks still ends up being good, twisted fun.