Parents' Guide to Mr. Brooks

Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) knows he has a problem. He believes he's addicted to killing, which he's apparently been doing for years. It helps that he's a wealthy businessman, which gives him both the leisure time to plan and execute his perfect crimes and access to all kinds of transportation and equipment. His whole life is arranged to cover up his "hobby" from his wife, Emma (Marg Helgenberger) and daughter, Jane Jane (Danielle Panabaker). But there's another side to MR. BROOKS -- Earl has regular conversations with an alter ego named Marshall (William Hurt). The two share entertaining, even charming contemplations of their methods and drives. When Earl leaves a bedroom curtain open, one of his crimes is photographed by the utterly slimy Mr. Smith (Dane Cook). Earl's problems multiply when he learns he's being pursued by a detective, Tracy (Demi Moore), who's very good at what she does but is also battling her own demons. That her troubles involve her wealthy father creates an alternately clunky and nuanced parallel to Earl's increasingly fraught relationship with Jane -- especially when it turns out that his daughter decides to leave college not just because she's pregnant, but also because a young man she knows has been murdered. As Earl contemplates the possibility that "she has what I have," he also struggles to rid himself of both Smith and Tracy, stylishly and efficiently.