One Night at McCool's (2001)
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Theatrical Release: Apr 27, 2001 Wide
Box Office: $5,689,784
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. Actually, they don't so much meet her as fall under her spell when they first lay eyes on her. In... 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 lead 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]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Michael Douglas, Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser, Liv Tyler
Screenwriter: Stan Seidel
Producer: Michael Douglas, Allison Lyon Segan
Composer: Marc Shaiman
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Reviews
...a breezy, nasty little film that delivers more than it promises.
No matter how bad a movie with A-list actors involved is, it will still be released - somewhere, sometime, to someone.
Once the gimmick has worn out its welcome, the movie makes misstep after misstep until a final shootout of baffling stupidity.
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One Night at McCool's at IGN
One Night at McCool's at AskMen


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