One Night at McCool’s
Ironic?…yes; predictable?…sure; entertaining and funny?…no. One Night at McCool's focuses on its main character Jewel Valentine (Liv Tyler) in plot, but Tyler’s talents are reduced to superficial dreams and degrading situations. Michael Douglas, who has also a producer on this film, was wise to take a supporting role as Mr. Burmeister.  When a big star…
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Tall Writer
Ironic?…yes; predictable?…sure; entertaining and funny?…no.

One Night at McCool’s focuses on its main character Jewel Valentine (Liv Tyler) in plot, but Tyler’s talents are reduced to superficial dreams and degrading situations. Michael Douglas, who has also a producer on this film, was wise to take a supporting role as Mr. Burmeister. When a big star takes a supporting role it’s usually a red flag that should tell you that the perceived success of the movie is questionable and filmmakers don’t have a lot of confidence in their product. Douglas doesn’t want to risk too much exposure or blame for a subpar film, but wants just enough in case the movie catches on with its audience. He can’t lose professionally, but you lose as an audience member seeking an entertaining film.

The film’s writer, the late Stan Seidel initiates the plot with three characters’ versions of their encounters with Jewel. It starts with local guy Randy (Matt Dillon). Then Carl (Paul Reiser), a lawyer, tells his version of the events to his psychiatrist (Reba McEntire). Finally, the plot moves on to Officer Dehling (John Goodman) who tells his version to a priest (Richard Jenkins). If this character was supposed to get some laughs from the audience, then filmmakers failed miserably (e.g. the disrespect of the communion chalice is just sad). Comedian Andrew Dice Clay also has a notable role in the plot.

Most of the main characters are too concerned with their own desires and needs to pay close attention to the other characters’ action and personalities. Dangerous assumptions and selfish decisions set the course for each character’s impeding fate. The only time that knowledge of a character’s traits has any beneficial use is when Burmeister uses information about a certain character for one of the few decent dialogues in the film (which also gives him a graceful exit).

The plot tries to set up some jokes with foreshadowing mentions of items like Mormons and garbage trucks in the characters’ dialogue, but the resulting jokes just don’t have much of an impact. One interior scene involving Jewel and Randy foreshadows a future joke set-up so obviously that you feel the characters are saying “don’t move that statue, we need it for the next joke!” Once the joke is revealed it’s not even that funny, yet filmmakers even build the following action on that joke. The motivation behind this constant technique is questionable. Many times it offsets the mood of the current action which brings some irony and impact to the film. You may get a few “I get it” nods and some “hmms” from this comedic technique, but don’t expect any big laughs. The comedy is seriously lacking here. Is the line “the sex and violence is just a little too much in one night” really that funny? This type of dialogue is strictly observational and a weak attempt at a cheap laugh. Filmmakers should just stick to the dark satire already in place.

Lines like “you have no idea of what this woman is capable of” give you a false sense of Jewel’s power over the male characters. She initiates a lot of the devious action, but each increasing downfall comes from chance encounters and staged scenarios. Sure Jewel manipulates, but she doesn’t have to do as much because of the type of people that she chooses to manipulate in the plot. An interesting depiction of life, but it still doesn’t make this film strong on the entertainment side. How can the audience really care about these superficial characters? Does Jewel’s dream of owning the ideal home really make you like her more? Note how Burmeister is exempt from this common trait of superficiality. The characters walk a thin line with the audience by not showing appealing traits which drives the emotional impact of the film closer to the audience. What’s really important in your life and how do you plan on getting it? You take some comfort that the filmmakers work hard to drive this point across to you, just keep this idea in mind as you watch the film.

The music by Marc Shaiman plays an important role in the film as it tries to build on the irony in the plot by playing light, fluffy during difficult times in the characters’ lives. The music shifts to an appropriate tone that mirrors the action in the plot after a second murder where one character begins to question his actions. Director Harald Zwart does his job well with good slow motion shots and background wipes for additional impact. In the ending scene, Zwart uses a camera trick I used making home movies with my brothers during my high school years.

One Night at McCool’s is a dark comedy that’s so dark that you can’t see anything as you just stumble around in an unentertaining, but memorable set of ironic situations and predictable set-ups among the characters. The surprising fates of some of the characters can be justified by a “live by the sword, die by the sword” point of view, but the ending impact may leave you uncomfortably dissatisfied with your recent trip to the theater.

Just because good stars are in this film doesn’t mean you should see it. Not recommended (* out of four stars) and rated R for violence, sexual situations and language. Special note: the previews ruin one of the surprising scenes in this film (see last year’s weak, but popular comedy, Deuce Bigalo for another example of this unfortunate marketing trend).