Mr. Brooks
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: June 1, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
19
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A curious mix of the campy and the intelligent, of high concept and low psychology. In spite of these contradictions, or perhaps because of them, it works. This is a tense and engaging thriller. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Watching Kevin Costner and William Hurt share grim laughs during Bruce Evans' Mr. Brooks is one of the pleasures of this totally absurd and equally entertaining psychological thriller. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The appeal of Mr. Brooks is as obvious as it is hard to resist: Kevin Costner as a serial killer. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Entertainingly creepy. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Listen to me: trash can surprise you. So don't get all elitist about the so-called cheap thrills in Mr. Brooks. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
So well made, and so compelling as a portrait of a man at war with himself, that, right up until the end, many people will probably be entertained by its intricately preposterous story. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
You may enjoy this complex, psychologically daring and visually stylish noir, which has been put together by director Bruce Evans ("Kuffs") with few dull moments and virtually none of the black humor you might expect from the premise. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
A fertile example of the Studio Film Gone Berserk, where too many characters and too many story lines geometrically progress until a level of blissful absurdity is reached. Read full review
60
VarietyJohn Anderson
Mr. Brooks is most effective when it's dealing with Earl and his conscience. Hurt and Costner are terrific together as two sides of the same personality and, again, the casting is what it's all about. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
What compels then isn't the overwrought plot, but the simpler things, the dynamics between the actors, the avuncularity between old pros Costner and Hurt and the class condescension between Costner and Cook. It has a fascinatin' rhythm. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
One dramatic ploy that doesn't work is the casting of Demi Moore as Tracy Edward, a homicide detective intent on capturing the Thumbprint Killer. Moore gave a rare good performance as the washed up diva in "Bobby," but her stridency here is grating. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Mr. Brooks begins promisingly, but it grows steadily more preposterous as it goes along, becoming the first feel-good serial-killer movie. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Sadly, only Hurt seems to recognize that the only way to make this material work is to play it with lunatic enthusiasm instead of grave seriousness. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
cleverly conceived and professionally executed and to hell with that. It's a serial killer movie in the dime-a-dozen era of serial killer movies, with the selling point being that the murderer is played by a movie star. This way you'll like the guy. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This is one of those slick, violent, ridiculous Hollywood jobs that make little sense as a story, a comment on life, or a depiction of characters, but are moderately enjoyable in their spinning of movie conventions. There's even a good De Palma-style fake shock ending. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Coincidences and plot contrivances pile up. What starts out as a delightful black comedy and social commentary ends up, at best, as a guilty pleasure where I had a hard time sorting out the intentional from the unintentional laughs. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The movie's not good, strictly speaking, but it is kind of fun. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Beneath its drab veil of self-seriousness, Mr. Brooks is nothing but just plain silly. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Costner succumbs to terminal self-seriousness when he makes a movie of his own either as the director or, in this case, a producer. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The kind of movie that rockets so far beyond the line of credibility and so deeply into the realm of utter stupidity, you start to wonder if the filmmakers aren't putting you on. Read full review
50
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
What this movie needed was a leaner narrative focusing on Earl and Marshall while keeping Moore’s character in the background. What we end up with is a goofy and occasionally enjoyable mix of horror, comedy, and action that can’t entirely shed its excess narrative flab. Read full review
50
NewsweekDavid Ansen
The movie becomes a crazy quilt of competing stories, none of them properly developed. You could cut half the major characters out of Mr. Brooks and never miss them. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
If the movie were just these two (Costner/Hurt), bopping around arguing and offing people, it would have been better than the unholy mess it turns into. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film feels sleazy and nasty --- but without the pulp kick of filmmakers who know how to do sleazy and nasty. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
By the time the police come knocking at the front door, Mr. Brooks has exploded from its mild-mannered start into full guignol mode, and would take a defter filmmaker than Evans to steer the tonal shift. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Evans and Gideon never really succeed in selling the idea that serial killing is a disease -- which would require a degree of realism that the slick, over-plotted Mr. Brooks doesn't otherwise aspire to. They seem to be content with occupying the audience with a series of twists and jolts. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A werewolf movie masquerading as a thriller, it looks like a canny attempt by Bruce A. Evans, its director and screenwriter (with Raynold Gideon), to establish a "Saw"-like franchise using the names of fading ’80s stars to lend the project a semblance of respectability. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Far-fetched, flimsy and uninvolving. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
There's no meat on this film's borrowed bones: They're polished to an exquisitely tasteful shine, but efforts to class up exploitation are pointless. Read full review
38
PremiereEric Alt
We'd really like to crawl into William Hurt's head and experience whatever movie he thought HE was making. Read full review
30
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Bloody disappointing. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Monumentally terrible but far too bizarre to be boring. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
If plots were people, this obese thing would be cuing up for liposuction. Mr. Brooks may well boast the greediest yarn in the annals of filmdom. One serial killer just doesn't cut it – no fewer than four, actual and potential, pack these frames. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mr. Brooks manages to be deeply loathsome -- no small feat for a film that's shallowly amateurish. Read full review
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