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One Night At McCool's
2001
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 .. Read more
| Starring | Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, Paul Reiser, John Goodman |
|---|---|
| Director | Harald Zwart |
| Genres | Comedy |
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One Night At 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 outre 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.
| Starring | Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, Paul Reiser, John Goodman, Michael Douglas, Reba McEntire |
|---|---|
| Director | Harald Zwart |
| Studio | ENTERTAINMENT IN VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 29 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | English |
| Released | DVD: 22 Oct 2001 Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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Great cast, good start — shame, then, that this Night out starts flagging by early evening. Set in McCool's bar, the film kicks off with the arrival of slinky, red-sheathed femme fatale Liv Tyler. She's the sort of woman that men don't so much live for as die for. And guess what? One does. Yet the killing further fuels the passions of besotted barman Matt Dillon, waterholing lawyer Paul Reiser and investigating homicide detective John Goodman. Starting out fine as a black comedy, the film loses its way with a desperate desire to be hip, a cleverdick triple-perspective structure and a descent into unfunny farce. Michael Douglas co-produced, and cameos as a hit man with an extremely weird wig. Pluses for film buffs are the allusions to Douglas's white-collar madman role in Falling Down and to the shoot-out scene in Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino's hip thriller True Romance. This cast certainly deserves better.
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Ramshackle comedy that suffers from the miscasting of Liv Tyler as a femme fatale, though there's enjoyment to be found elsewhere, notably in Douglas's toothy, bingo-playing hit-man.
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Most helpful member's review
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4 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Pleasantly surprised
This is one of the films that I added to my selection to pad it out a bit, without expecting too much of the film. Well, I have to say it was completely different to what I expected! Although it will not win any Oscars, this was a great little tale, tightly directed and played out well by all the actors. It is a tale of several characters woven round Liv Tyler's scheming 'Jewel'. It's a mix of humour and violence found in many contempary films - 'Lock Stock' and 'True Romance' to name two. Having said that, it is not like either of those films apart from the humour/violence connection, and the several story threads that all meet in the finale. Whilst I would not rate it as highly as True Romance, it's a very enjoyable ninety minutes for fans of the genre.
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Most recent members' review
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Comedy for older teens / adults. Very repititive storyline but still quite funny.
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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. ... -