Mr. Brooks is a thriller film directed by Bruce A. Evans and starring Kevin Costner and William Hurt. It was released on June 1, 2007.

This film is R by the MPAA for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity, and language.

Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is an upstanding business owner and family man who, at the beginning of the film, is named the Portland Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year. Secretly, Earl is addicted to killing – a dark side of his psyche that manifests into a gleefully sadistic alter ego named Marshall (William Hurt). After receiving the chamber’s recognition, Earl ends his two-year killing drought with a thrill killing of a dance couple at their home. Though Earl’s meticulous planning is almost a science, he makes a big faux pas by shooting the victims when the blinds are open.

The next day, Earl’s daughter, Jane, comes home, having dropped out of school. Jane reveals that she’s pregnant, but Earl fears his daughter is hiding a worse secret. More pressing, though, is the appearance of “Mr. Smith” (Dane Cook), a peeping tom who was photographing the dance couple making love when they were shot – and now knows that Earl is the serial killer known as the “Thumbprint Killer.” Smith’s demand is that he tagalong with Earl on the next killing – a proposition Earl agrees to. Earl attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, telling Marshall that his constant attendance at the meetings has kept his demons in check for two years.

Meanwhile, Portland Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore) takes on the Thumbprint Killer case and quickly zeroes in on the neighbor Mr. Smith (real name Bafford) – suspecting that he’s hiding something. Tracy is dealing with her own problems, though, as her sleazy ex-husband wants a large divorce settlement, and a serial killer she previously locked up (“Meeks”) has broken out of jail and wants her dead. Meeks attacks Tracy on the street, but she escapes with moderate injuries.

Detectives arrive at Earl’s house, but not to speak to him, but rather his daughter, who left school abruptly after a student was murdered with a hatchet. Jane pleads innocence to questioning. Earl realizes that his daughter is guilty and afflicted with the same “addiction” he has. To save her, he travels to her college campus in disguise and replicates her hatchet murder, making it appear that a serial killer on campus must be responsible rather than Jane. The ploy works. At the same time, Earl and Marshall talk about how to stay one step ahead of Mr. Smith and his blackmail, while also learning everything they can about their police pursuer, Tracy.

Earl begins to reevaluate his own life and decides it’s for the best if he himself was murdered – a decision that infuriates Marshall. His plan is to take Mr. Smith out on a thrill killing (as promised) in the hopes that Smith will get up the nerve to then kill Earl. Tracy gets a search warrant for Mr. Smith’s apartment, believing him to be the Thumbprint Killer. When she enters the apartment, she finds it empty, with only a forwarding address where the furniture supposedly is. She investigates the address, but is shocked to find it’s the hideout location of Meeks. A gunfight ensues, and Tracy injures both Meeks and his girlfriend. With jail inevitable, Meeks kills his girlfriend and himself.

At the thrill killing location, it’s revealed that Earl's targets are Tracy’s sleazy ex-husband and his divorce attorney, who are now lovers. After Smith urinates down his leg out of nervousness, Earl steps out of the shadows and murders both victims. Just as planned, Smith is exhilarated by the killings and pulls a gun on Earl in the car afterward. The men end up at a cemetery, where Smith is going to shoot Earl so he falls into an open grave. Smith pulls the trigger, but the gun doesn’t fire. Earl reveals that he manipulated the gun because he changed his mind about being killed. Earl kills Smith and buries him in the open grave. With Smith’s DNA at the last Thumbprint Killer crime scene (his urine) and Tracy’s suspicion, Earl knows his identity is still safe. Earl also says that he was the one who arranged for Tracy to find Meeks.

After the killings, Earl is back to his normal life, pledging to Marshall that the killings are over. He has another fear now: that his pregnant daughter’s thrill for killings will eventually make him a victim. Earl calls Tracy anonymously and hints to her that The Thumbprint Killer is not who she first thought, then gets her to confess exactly why she became a cop. The film ends with Earl praying.

The movie was received well by a wide variety of demographics, garnering a 7.7 rating on IMDB.com as of June 2007. However, the movie was met with mixed reviews on both metacritic.com and rottentomatoes.com, with an overall of 44 out of 100 on Metacritic and a 55 out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes. Both sites total critics' ratings and average it together for the final score.

The Films Soundtrack Features The Score By Ramin Djawadi And The Song "Vicious Traditions" By The Veils

Although set in Oregon, the movie was filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana.