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Movies / On DVD / One Night at McCool's
One Night at McCool's

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One Night at McCool's (2001)

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Reviews Counted:102

Fresh:34

Rotten:68

Average Rating:4.7/10

Consensus: Critics say this blend of film noir and screwball comedy seems to think itself more clever and hip than it actually is. Also, the crucial femme fatale role needs a better, more mature actress than Tyler.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: The title refers to the night when three men, Randy (Matt Dillon), his cousin Carl (Paul Reiser) and Detective Dehling (John Goodman), all meet Jewel Valentine (Liv Tyler) at a bar called McCool's.... The title refers to the night when three men, Randy (Matt Dillon), his cousin Carl (Paul Reiser) and Detective Dehling (John Goodman), all meet Jewel Valentine (Liv Tyler) at a bar called McCool's. Actually, they don't so much meet her as fall under her spell when they first lay eyes on her. In her clinging red dress she looks like a cross between a beautiful damsel in distress and the Lady In Red looking for John Dillinger. The story begins with Randy, desperate to be rid of Jewel, hiring a sleazy hitman, played by Michael Douglas in an outré toupee. His story of how Jewel led him to ruin, filmed in a stylized flashback bathed in blue, is mirrored by Carl talking to his therapist--played with a delicious verve by Reba McEntire, and Detective Dehling talking with a priest; each telling their own stories of obsession with Jewel. Tyler is clearly beautiful, but it's the evil, scheming side of her character--delivered with voluptuous softness and irresistible badness--that makes the men's actions, however ridiculous they become, feel completely believable. Dillon, Goodman, and Reiser are all type cast in their familiar personas, but the story moves quickly, the dialogue doesn't have that forced sitcom feel, and a running gag involving a wooden Indian builds to an amusing pay-off. [More]

Starring: Michael Douglas, Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser

Starring: Michael Douglas, Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser, Liv Tyler, Reba McEntire, Richard Jenkins, Sandy Martin, Mary Jo Smith

Director: Harald Zwart

Director: Harald Zwart
Screenwriter: Stan Seidel
Producer: Michael Douglas, Allison Lyon Segan
Composer: Marc Shaiman
Studio: USA Films

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Reviews for One Night at McCool's

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81 - 100 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

It is so busy with its crosscut structure and its interlocking stories that it never really gives us anyone to identify with.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
04/27/01
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The jokes are only funny sometimes, the stunt casting feels gratuitous after a while, and a barrage of bullets at the end is out of place.

comment Comment
04/27/01
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Associated Press

They should've done less howling and more character development and plotting.

comment Comment
04/27/01
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

Tyler's tongue-in-cheek noir goddess transcends cliche and the screenplay's other shortcomings terrifically.

comment Comment
04/27/01
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe

Tyler simply doesn't have the acting chops to pull it off.

Full Review Source: Fresno Bee | comment Comment
04/27/01
Donald Munro
Donald Munro
Fresno Bee

The movie is certainly amusing, but it's uneven.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
04/27/01
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

The main actress isn't very talented.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
04/27/01
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

A full-on, mean-spirited bore that's neither as sexy nor as smart as it thinks it is.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
04/27/01
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Even when the film makes no sense, it's still an enjoyably off-beat exercise.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
04/27/01
Andy Seiler
Andy Seiler
USA Today

Specific bits of humor sometimes seem forced, and the film never balances its array of sex, laughs and violence.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
04/27/01
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

The screenplay ... is never clever enough or challenging enough to really exploit a terrific premise.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
04/27/01
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

It's hard not to get cheesed off by the fear-of-sex, fear-of-women theme operating here.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
04/27/01
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

An offbeat, dark comedy filled with plenty of sight gags that work.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
04/27/01
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The bulk of the humor is, like Andrew Dice Clay with black rimmed glasses, dweeby and cheap.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia City Paper | comment Comment
04/27/01
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper

A picture whose wildly different components never really coalesce into a satisfying whole.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
04/27/01
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

It's grabbing you by the lapels and screaming, 'Laugh!'

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
04/27/01
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A clever idea that isn't executed cleverly enough.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/26/01
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

The script is tired and airless, desperate to make you laugh, and failing at that.

Full Review Source: IFilm | comment Comment
04/26/01
Dave White
Dave White
IFilm

With its distinctive voice, the irreverent comedy makes the unsavory seem tasty.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
04/26/01
Philip Wuntch
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News

An overwritten, overacted, overedited, heck even overorchestrated dark comedy.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
04/26/01
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
all

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