History YMMV / MrBrooks

** Years later, [[Creator/DaniellePanabaker Jane Brooks]] would become [[Series/TheFlash2014 Killer Frost.]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' fans may be surprised/accustomed to see a serial killer story involving the attending of AA meetings and later [[spoiler: the discussing of hiding a body under a thin layer of dirt in a yet-to-be-used cemetery grave]].
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Towards the end of the movie, Brooks is holding a glass of milk that varies in fullness, somehow gaining more as he goes upstairs before disappearing entirely.

* CompleteMonster ([[Script/MrBrooksEvansAndGideon Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon]]'s [[https://imsdb.com/scripts/Mr-Brooks.html original screenplay]]): [[VillainProtagonist Thornton (here Thorton) Meeks]] is worse here than in the final film. A vicious SerialKiller of women known as "the Hangman", Meeks would [[TortureTechnician torture his victims]] before hanging them and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay displaying their bodies]] for the public to find. Escaping prison at the start of the story, Meeks works with his partner to brutally torture and kill his former steroid dealer and his secretary. After a failed attempt to kidnap, torture, and likely rape Detective Atwood who caught him last time, Meeks ends up shooting his partner and then [[SpitefulSuicide himself]] rather than face capture.

* MagnificentBastard: The eponymous Mr. Earl Brooks is a brilliant, charming SerialKiller addicted to murder who seeks to quench his thirst for blood. Attending AA meetings to cope with his addiction while simultaneously running a prospering box factory he built from the ground up, Brooks gives into his murderous inclinations now and then yet is never caught, having been killing for decades without suspicion. When the crooked, pathetic "Mr. Smith" tries to blackmail Brooks, Brooks twists Smith into his personal pawn and, after neatly tying up a variety of loose ends, effortlessly enacts a XanatosGambit that ends the film with Brooks escaping all of his crimes, which are pinned on Mr. Smith.

* CompleteMonster ([[Script/MrBrooksEvansAndGideon Bruce A Evans and Raynold Gideon]]'s [[https://imsdb.com/scripts/Mr-Brooks.html original screenplay]]): [[VillainProtagonist Thornton (here Thorton) Meeks]] is worse here than in the final film. A vicious SerialKiller of women known as "the Hangman", Meeks would [[TortureTechnician torture his victims]] before hanging them and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay displaying their bodies]] for the public to find. Escaping prison at the start of the story, Meeks works with his partner to brutally torture and kill his former steroid dealer and his secretary. After a failed attempt to kidnap, torture, and likely rape Detective Atwood who caught him last time, Meeks ends up shooting his partner and then [[SpitefulSuicide himself]] rather than face capture.

* CompleteMonster (Bruce A Evans and Raynold Gideon's [[https://imsdb.com/scripts/Mr-Brooks.html original screenplay]]): [[VillainProtagonist Thornton (here Thorton) Meeks]] is worse here than in the final film. A vicious SerialKiller of women known as "the Hangman", Meeks would [[TortureTechnician torture his victims]] before hanging them and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay displaying their bodies]] for the public to find. Escaping prison at the start of the story, Meeks works with his partner to brutally torture and kill his former steroid dealer and his secretary. After a failed attempt to kidnap, torture, and likely rape Detective Atwood who caught him last time, Meeks ends up shooting his partner and then [[SpitefulSuicide himself]] rather than face capture.

* {{Narm}}: When Detective Atwood has a hallway shootout with Meeks and his partner, the action is made absurd by the obvious strobe lighting accompanied by a thumping techno song. One almost expects them to engage in a break dance battle.

* CompleteMonster (Bruce A Evans and Raynold Gideon's [[https://imsdb.com/scripts/Mr-Brooks.html original screenplay]]): [[VillainProtagonist Thornton (here Thorton) Meeks]] is worse here than in the final film. A vicious SerialKiller of women known as "the Hangman", Meeks would [[TortureTechnician torture his victims]] before hanging them and displaying their bodies for the public to find. Escaping prison at the start of the story, Meeks works with his partner to brutally torture and kill his former steroid dealer and his secretary. After a failed attempt to kidnap, torture, and likely rape Detective Atwood who caught him last time, Meeks ends up shooting his partner and then [[SpitefulSuicide himself]] rather than face capture.

** While already an accomplished voice actress by this time, Laura Bailey's cameo in the film came before several of her high-profile roles that made her one of the leading ladies in western voice acting or her turn in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole.''

* EvilIsCool: Subverted. "Smith" thinks this about Brooks, despite Brooks consistently attempting to dissuade him of the notion.

** Years later, Jane Brooks would become [[Series/TheFlash2014 Killer Frost.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: Years later, Jane Brooks would become [[Series/TheFlash2014 Killer Frost.]]

* IdiotBall: "Mr. Smith" grabs this early, and never lets go. He knows [[spoiler: that Mr. Brooks is a very successful serial killer,]] yet takes almost zero steps to ensure his own safety. He depends on the [[spoiler: photos he took to be his paper shield against Mr. Brooks, even after Mr. Brooks demonstrates ''just how easily he can get to Mr. Smith.'' Then, he leaves a large puddle of DNA behind at a crime scene, not once thinking to clean it up in any way, nor does he discuss it with the ''serial killer he accompanies.'']] It is a wonder that "Mr. Smith" expected to survive the encounter at all.

* EpilepticTrees: One of the more bizarre interpretations on the Website/{{IMDB}} forums suggested that no-one in the film existed except Marshall, and that Brooks (and every other character and event) was a product of ''his'' imagination. The lengthy [[FlameWar debate]] that ensued was [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780571/board/thread/98350149 hilarious in its absurdity]].

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''{{Series/Dexter}}'' fans may be surprised/accustomed to see a serial killer story involving the attending of AA meetings and later [[spoiler: the discussing of hiding a body under a thin layer of dirt in a yet-to-be-used cemetery grave]].

* EpilepticTrees - One of the more bizarre interpretations on the Website/{{IMDB}} forums suggested that no-one in the film existed except Marshall, and that Brooks (and every other character and event) was a product of ''his'' imagination. The lengthy [[FlameWar debate]] that ensued was [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780571/board/thread/98350149 hilarious in its absurdity]].
* EvilIsCool - Subverted. "Smith" thinks this about Brooks, despite Brooks consistently attempting to dissuade him of the notion.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny - ''{{Series/Dexter}}'' fans may be surprised/accustomed to see a serial killer story involving the attending of AA meetings and later [[spoiler: the discussing of hiding a body under a thin layer of dirt in a yet-to-be-used cemetery grave]].
* TrappedByMountainLions - Much of the Demi Moore subplot, up until the point where it crosses over fully with the real story, is so divorced from the main action that it almost feels like a separate film.

* EpilepticTrees - One of the more bizarre interpretations on the {{IMDB}} forums suggested that no-one in the film existed except Marshall, and that Brooks (and every other character and event) was a product of ''his'' imagination. The lengthy [[FlameWar debate]] that ensued was [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780571/board/thread/98350149 hilarious in its absurdity]].

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny - ''{{Dexter}}'' fans may be surprised to see an earlier serial killer story involving the attending of AA meetings and later [[spoiler: the discussing of hiding a body under a thin layer of dirt in a yet-to-be-used cemetery grave]].
* TrappedByMountainLions - Much of the Demi Moore subplot, up until the point where it crosses over fully with the real story, is so divorced from the main action that it almost feels like a separate film.

* TrappedByMountainLions - YourMileageMayVary, but much of the Demi Moore subplot, up until the point where it crosses over fully with the real story, is so divorced from the main action that it almost feels like a separate film.