Michael Douglas and Matt Dillon in "One Night at McCool's."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Liv Tyler Director: Harald Zwart Rated: R, with profanity and sex Length: 93 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(April 27, 2001) -- Three men romp with the woman of their dreams in the ambitious but flawed new comedy noir, One Night at McCool's.

It just happens she's the same woman (played by Liv Tyler), and she fits their fantasies so she can use them to make her own silly dreams come true.

Meanwhile, the guys' dreams turn to nightmares. Thus the noir: dead bodies, wild shoot-outs and bondage segments.

A feature debut for director Harald Zwart, One Night at McCool's is a black comedy in the tradition of To Die For and Nurse Betty but lacks the edgy daring that elevated those films. McCool's strives to be both amiable and menacing, but ends up only modestly entertaining.

Tyler plays Jewel, an ambitious young woman who uses her femme fatale wiles to get what she wants. Her desires don't include murder, but a few fellows still die.

The men she hoodwinks include Randy (Matt Dillon), the underachieving McCool's bartender and momma's boy, even though momma's no longer with us; his unlikely brother, Carl (Paul Reiser), an overachieving lawyer with bondage fantasies; and Detective Dehling (John Goodman), a lonely cop who sees Jewel as the reincarnation of his late wife.

Eventually, she uses Randy as a burglar to steal what she wants and Carl to provide legal advice. She seduces the cop, of course, to keep him from suspecting her in recent crimes.

Then come revealing confessions. Carl visits a psychiatrist (Reba McEntire). Dehling talks with his brother, a priest (Richard Jenkins), who's thrilled to hear juicy details.

Randy meets a hit man in a bingo parlor and unburdens himself while simultaneously hiring the guy to bump off Jewel.

The low-life assassin is played -- in one of the film's small treats -- by Michael Douglas. His laughable 1950s pompadour and shoddy wardrobe do much to distance him from his GQ reputation.

Why is Douglas in this quirky supporting part? Presumably it's a plum role, but also One Night at McCool's is a product of his film company.

Tyler graduates here to a major adult comedy role and clearly has fun flaunting her sexiness. Her motivations, however, aren't clear.

Though the set-up in Stan Seidel's script is clever, specific bits of humor sometimes seem forced, and the film never balances its array of sex, laughs and violence.

At times, McCool's offers a devil-may-care craziness; at others, it seems overly cautious. I found myself laughing in the former moments, bored in the latter.