User reviews

This is a very good black comedy, with a great view on how different people have a different perception of the same situations. The three main characters each met a girl named Jewel, played by Liv Tyler, who is a different male fantasy for each of the three men. Each of the three men go through the same situations, but when they tell of them to other people, their perception of the situation is very different from what the other two say. That is a very good concept, probably not entirely original but it works very well in the movie. The plot is very good, very bizarre and extreme, which makes it a good black comedy. The acting is equally good, not one of the actors seemed out of place or out of their league. The comedy is very black, pitch black in some scenes, and a lot of people will definitely be offended by it, but fans of black comedy will probably enjoy it. Overall, this movie is not for everyone's taste, but most people who like black comedy will probably love it, as it is definitely one of the better black comedies. 7/10

"One Night at McCool's" is one of those quirky films that comes out quite interesting. It portrays a young woman (Liv Tyler) crossing paths with three lonely men (Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser) and turning their lives upside down. Throughout most of the movie, you sort of wonder where it's going, but the hilarious end is sure to blow you away. It sure blew me away.

Maybe this movie isn't really anything special, but it's pretty neat. Sort of a look at how small things can proliferate. Also starring Michael Douglas, Reba McEntire and Andrew Dice Clay.

And one more thing: after watching this movie, you may feel tempted to spend the next few days singing "YMCA".

One Night At McCool's:

I recently began to wonder how long it had been since a movie had really made me laugh. Not just smile, but bust a gut, wipe tears out of my eyes, clutch my side, think I'm going to stop breathing, roar with laughter. Frighteningly enough I realized it had been months. Ever since "There's Something About Mary", directors and writers have equated super gross-out with funny. However, the recent spate of disastrous "comedies" - "Tomcats" and "Freddie Got Fingered" instantly come to mind- have hopefully shown just how wrong this thinking is. Does anyone in Hollywood remember how to make a good comedy? I'm still undecided.

Jewel is the kind of woman that every man wishes for: tall, gorgeous, aggressive and a "demon in the sack". Unfortunately as the saying goes, if something seems too good to be true… Jewel's charms are backed up by a penchant for philandering, double cross and murder. After one night at a back street dive of a bar, three unlucky men - a bartender, a lawyer and a police officer - learn what it's like to have there prayers and worst nightmares come true when they're caught up in her whirlwind.

"One Night at McCool's" plays like the Japanese classic "Rashomon" -different people recount their experiences of the same event and we're never quite sure which one to believe. This movie marks the breakout performance of Liv Tyler both literally and figuratively - as Jewel she is practically spilling out of her clothing, and abandons her innocent persona delivering one of the best vixen performances in recent memory. She is positively wicked. Matt Dillon is enjoyable as the pitiable sop who, although his life is destroyed by her conniving, can't seem to let her go. Paul Reiser manages not to be too annoying as a sleazy lawyer, while John Goodman, who seems to be wheezing through his lines, is quite distracting. Michael Douglas' turn as a slimy coifed contract killer with an agenda all his own is quite amusing and you want to take a shower every time he is onscreen. Andrew Dice Clay (remember him?) and Reba McEntire round out the cast with decent performances.

Aside from the aforementioned movie reference, "One Night at McCool's" borrows liberally from such classic films as "Coolhand Luke" and "Falling Down". While I enjoyed these and other manipulations, the movie spends a little too much time trying to be clever and consequently suffers from several noticeable lulls. What I found most disappointing however was the "surprise" ending that many people have commented on - although I did laugh at it, the effect would have been much greater if it had not been revealed in the trailers (on the off chance you have not seen them, I will say no more)!! I laughed nonetheless.

"McCool's" succeeds largely because it is subtle, well acted and most importantly, funny.

One Night at McCool's may not be for kids, but for the older (and funner) at heart, this film is my pick of the year. It has great acting (Matt Dillon, Liv Tyler, Andrew Dice Clay, Paul Reiser, John Goodman, Reba McEntire, Michael Douglas and Andrew Dice Clay are the highlights) great laughs, and great surprises. Also, this is one of those films where the film is mainly a set-up for what will come in the last scene. But unlike other films, the ending is electrifying, smart and funny. Just like the rest of the film leading up to it. A+

One Night is as boring as it is witless and will most certainly be greeted by the average viewer with a long extended face palm throughout its entire duration. Not that I suspect that people will have that much patience with it. I certainly didn't.

What else is there to say really? Everything this movie aims at just garners the opposite. The situations are painful instead of funny, the characters are dull and annoying instead of quirky and the story as a whole is merely a stockpile of random stupidities thought up by someone with zero imagination and no sense of humor.

A must miss for sure.

ONE NIGHT AT McCOOL'S / (2001) *** (out of four)

By Blake French:

According to Harald Zwart, the director of "One Night at McCool's," this film is "a dark comedy about the power of women over men, and how a group of people can all perceive different realities. It's the same story told from three different points of view, and each time we tell the story, we try to reveal a little bit more about what actually happened, which nobody really knows."

"One Night at McCool's" marks the feature film directorial debut of Zwart, an award winning commercial and music video director who began making short films when he was eight years old. I always get nervous when a director of commercials and music videos turns to filmmaking. We have seen so many examples of how these guys think they are making another advertisement or music video for TV with their productions. Zwart resists that tendency. He captures a specific humorous truth in "One Night at McCool's," from an inventive, complex screenplay by the late Stan Seidel, even if it is often somewhat perplexing.

"One Night At McCool's" features three men who share their separate experiences about a particularly beautiful young woman. In some ways, this movie is the comedy version of "American Beauty," but in others, it is a world apart.

"It all started one night at McCool's" explains each of the three men to their various listeners. There is Randy (Matt Dillon), a tender at the local bar, and his cousin, a lawyer named Carl (Paul Reiser), who stays until the place closes. Detective Dehling (John Goodman), arrives when the saloon becomes the crime scene of the dead boyfriend of a female fatal appropriately named Jewel (Liv Tyler). Randy is the first to see her, as an individual treats her unkindly. He stands up for her, and before you can say SEXY, they are having vigorous sex and she moves in with him. At first, Randy is reluctant: "The sex and the violence, all in one night – it's a little much." But who could turn a jewel like Jewel away.

Jewel changes the lives of each of the three men. For Detective Dehling, she pulls him out of a hole of grief since his wife died. For Carl, she makes him forget his loving family and nice little suburban household. For Randy, she lights a few fires, both positive and negative, the later persuading him to contact a bingo playing hit man named Burmeister (Michael Douglas) to put an end to her deceptive ways.

It is interesting how the movie perceives the three different chronicles-even the costuming of Jewel is relative to the man telling the story. Dehling sees Jewel as a beautiful, mesmerizing gift from God. Carl sees Jewel as two sexy legs and lots of cleavage. Randy is unsure what to make of her, an awakening to his otherwise boring, road to nowhere life. The most intriguing element of this movie is Jewel herself, however, deliciously played by the always delightful Liv Tyler ("Armageddon"). She is not really interested in the men, but what they can offer her. Her motives are all too simple, not truthfully diabolical or evil; she is simply a young lady who has learned at an early age that she can get what she wants out of life through her beauty.

The film has a lot of fun with its material. From the enthusiastically entertaining cast, to its violently hilarious showdown, "One Night at McCool's" takes advantage of most of its humorous ideas. What makes the movie even funnier is how the three men's points of view differ. The actors have a lot of fun with their characters, too. Goodman is curiously whimsical; Reiser fits his kinky, squirmy part quite well; Douglas is sly and mysterious in one of the movie's funniest performances; Dillon gives his character arrogant personality, even though Randy is a lackluster nobody; Liv Tyler is dazzling. She injects Jewel with the perfect amount of boastful charisma and tantalizing wit. She reminds us of Mena Suvari's intimate performance in "American Beauty."

"One Night at McCool's" is the first film to come from Michael Douglas' new production company, Furthur Films. It is a creative, genuine, and sexy production. Along the way we often become caught up in the twisty structure, but that is a natural response to a movie that intentionally interweaves several angles to a single story. The movie ends on a note that is both black and comedic. This is another one of those comedies in which serious events take place in a humorous way; i.e., the black comedy. Many films of this genre come across as either too black or too lackadaisical. "One Night at McCool's" is one of the few that actually work.

Few could seriously argue that ONE NIGHT AT McCOOL'S is great film making - it doesn't even really live up to the title which is merely the opening for each of the three stories (interrelated perspectives) we follow drawn from the events which began one night at a watering hole named McCool's. Great film making or not, the film knows how to push most of the right buttons and quote the right classic models for a good "naughty" time, and most viewers will have such a good time before the story's energy runs out in the last 20 minutes, that they won't really care.

Matt Dillon turns in a fine performance (and not just his from eyebrows and abs - though they get their usual workout) as the put-upon bartender who gets drawn into the increasingly outrageous chain of events by the beauteous (and predictably amoral) Liv Tyler as bodies - dead and otherwise - start to pile up. The main story thread is told for most of the film in flashback as Dillon, at a low point in his life, recruits aid from an oddly cast Michael Douglas. Paul Reiser is his cousin, in the midst of a severe midlife crisis and explaining his story to his new therapist, Reba McEntire (turning in another delightful set of reactions) and John Goodman is the policeman - and one true innocent in the story - also drawn into the web of events by lost love and seeking council from his all too interested parish priest, Richard Jenkins.

Inocence and midlife frustration are not rewarded in a film like this (stick around for the punchline joke life plays on Reiser at the end - it's a drop-dead killer!), but for the Saturday night crowd who wants a happy ending, Dillon gets one Moliere would have been proud of, and in this case, even the modern version of a "Tartuffe" may get to ride happily off into the sunset.

A solid supporting cast TV viewers will smile at (Andrea Bendewald, a chilly blonde source of laughs in so many shows, is particularly good in the small role of Reiser's wife) keeps things rolling and occasionally adds just by the baggage they bring. Completing the mix is a surprisingly satisfying double role tossed to Andrew Dice Clay (nearly unrecognizable in each) as the "friend" who starts and finishes the whole chain of events.

The McGuffin here is "house hunger," and those who love ONE NIGHT AT McCOOL'S should seek out Harold Prince's twisted black comedy fairy tale, SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE where Michael York has the same weakness. It might make a great double feature.

I must admit, I liked this movie, and didnt find it all misogynist. It could be subtitled, three ways of looking at LiV Tyler. Three different men become obsessed with the same woman,and tell their stories to very different characters;One man(John Goodman) tells his story to a priest(the very funny Richard Jenkins).For Goodmans charcter, the Liv Tyler character is an idealized saint, the second coming of his sainted wife,Theresa.For Paul Riesers character(who tellls story to a shrink(a fine, understated performance by the great Reba Mcintire),the Liv Tyler character is simplyan object of (kinky)sexual fantasy.Finally Matt Dillons rather dimwitted charcter tells HIS side of the story to a sleazy hit man, played by Micheal Douglas.All three of these narratives of obsession are told simultaneously,and all are amusing. Finaly the film ends in a bizarrely funny climax, that I wont give away.

"One Night At McCool's" is one of those films that had possibilities, but in the long run it ends up being rather juvenile. It probably doesn't help matters much that I'm one of the few men (?) that doesn't think Liv Tyler is all that hot. Seeing as her sexuality is the main point of the plot, I had a hard time believing that all these guys would fall for her so easily. I'm not sure if she is just a terrible actress or was purposefully acting bad in order to develop her conning character. The lame and overdone sex scenes must have been done to placate the teenage boys that Liv may have drawn to the theaters. Matt Damon and John Goodman's characters are excellent, however, and provided quite a few laughs in their roles. The retelling of the same set of events through different viewpoints is always interesting and several comical retellings were what saved this movie from being a total wash.

"One Night At McCools" is the kind of movie that you start watching and don't expect very much. It helps to first check your brains at the door or at the side of the couch. But, much to your surprise, the movie is a winner. It's a delightful film about four whacky characters that are so driven by their out-of-control basic instincts that you have to follow their trail and laugh along at them. And most of their instincts revolve around sex. Liv Tyler, playing the irresistible Jewell, delivers with little left to your imagination. In one of the sexiest performances I've seen on film in years, Liv keeps all men hot and aroused, both on and off the screen. Paul Reiser and John Goodman had some hysterical moments as two guys who are willing to give up everything for the woman of their dreams. And Matt Dillon did a fine job as the loser who had nothing going for him, but got sucked into the sex and violent world of the only woman who would give him the time of day. There was an unusual, for him, performance by Michael Douglas, as the con man and recipient of the long narrative tale told by Matt Dillon. It seemed that Michael was there to oversee the film, allowing the rest of the fine cast to do their thing and get the accolades. He played it very low key, which was perfect for a guy who's not known as a comedic actor. So get yourselves ready for a very funny, light, and fast-paced sex romp. It'll be one enjoyable night.

It has been a long time since I have seen a movie like this. Don't bring popcorn around, you'd might choke on it. Better to leave the food at home, or eat afterwards. Hilarious comedy with a perfect example of how a modern Femme Fatale is. And it gives a great Idea of how some women are, especially for us of the male gender, that has been betrayed by one. This film is real "Jewel."

Okay. Here's the thing. I've read through the comments of other viewers --- some trashing the film and some saying it's the funniest, darkest, blackest comedy ever made. Whiffs of Tarantino, etc. Well, not exactly. But, guess what? It's still an enjoyable and, ultimately, funny film. Not brilliant, not trash. Liv Tyler gives a great performance and you absolutely cannot take your eyes off her. She's a woman with very strong decorating ideas...Matt Dillon, a greatly underrated and under-used actor, is wonderful, as ever. He always manages to stride that delicate line between scruff and soul, and he pulls off the comedy beautifully. Ditto John Goodman (though the religious overtones, probably funny in the script, really don't work). Paul Reiser is very good --- definitely better than he was on TV.

The usually unbearable Michael Douglas is actually great in this role. As for his coif, well, see the film. Between this and "Wonder Boys," you're actually reminded of the fact that Douglas can act. The movie will make you laugh in parts. Okay, not exactly belly-laughing, but definitely in the I'm-amused-I'm-very-amused category. If you're renting this expecting to see another "Pulp Fiction," forget it. But if want something kinda hip and kinda fun, this is a damned good choice.

I mean we already had that a few times : A beautiful woman ( Liv, If you'd only run a car wash , hmmmmmmmm )seducing a couple of guys so they dance after her tune. We also had a stroy told by different characters according to their point of view, so you never know who is telling the truth and who is adding a little bit of his/hers own truth until the final showdown reveals everything... But have we ever had a John Goodman playing so that you really pity this guy...A Paul Reiser that is so convincing in his ego trip ( the dialogues with the psychiatrist are BIG FUN ) that you would like to kick this guy in his *** but cannot because of laughing and envying this guy of all his self esteem ( Is he acting or for real ? ) and of course Michael Douglas SO VERY COOL ( and indeed a very good listener ) ? Needless to say that this story has some real big surprises and hidden gags ( no wonder Dillon wanted to keep the Indian hehe YMCA ) and still I am thinking about who is the loser and who the winner in this one ?! 8 very big points and now I ´have to stop and wath it again ( maybe I catch some more hidden jokes )

We have just returned from viewing One Night, how enjoyable, I haven't laughed as much in years and my partner, who doesn't enjoy comedy, really enjoyed herself. Every character is a delight and there is so much subtle symbolism, like the use of the ketchup bottle as a sex indicator. The women I know all love the idea of Liv Tyler winding so many men round her little finger.

The ending is so sudden and unexpected, that I nearly choked with laughter.

Put this one on your must see list.

I thought the movie was good not quite excellent standards but definitely entertaining. The role that Michael Douglas played was excellent and how everything rolled into one was wonderful. A nice comparison for the movie "Snatch" which is also on a high recommendation list from me. All together this movie is funny, at times action filled, and yes even a little dramatic. Its a good movie to watch I enjoyed it.

A talented cast attracted me to this film. The first 30 minutes or so are funny enough. However the film has aspirations to be more intelligent than it really is. The next 60 minutes are a downturn, and end up being very boring indeed.

I'd maybe catch this on video, but wouldn't really recommend it. Is this film an early indication of the pre-writer's strike dross that is to be released?

One Night at McCool's is a very funny movie that is more intelligent than what it should be. Its form is more sophisticated than what I expected, and its randomness was superb. The thoughts behind the movie (mysogeny, sadism, stupid men) are are infantile. That's what I have to say about this movie is that not only does it hate women, but it loathes men. It doesn't have any sympathy for any of the men, really. It seems that way because of the form, but the ending says it all. Nobody cares.

The form has the first 2/3 of the movie told in flashback by three characters: Dillon, the stupid bartender; Reiser, the mysogenistic stupid lawyer; and Goodman, the stupid, holier-than-thou cop. The story is therefore always perverted by their own self images and altered realities. Reiser's BBQ fantasy is a great touch. In the end, we never really know the truth, and nothing is what it seems. Dillon was never that innocent, etc.

Actually, the rest of the movie is funny too. From the randomness of the last 5 seconds of the movie to the overly-obviousness of Tyler's manipulations, the movie seems to have an energy all its own. Everything is just out of the blue, and nothing seems to make sense. Do we really care if it does? No.

It is also a very dark comedy, but has a shallow presentation. Think Nurse Betty, or Jawbreaker. Very candy coated outside, dark chewy inside. If you like your movies random, dark, or just purely mean, see this movie. This one will satisfy your urges for the strangeness that is One Night at McCool's.

8/10

This film had real possibilities, Michael Douglas as the scumbag hired killer, the stunning looking Liv Tyler as the love interest, Matt Dillon in the kind of role he plays well.

However, it got to a point and didn't carry on to what it could have been. I can't help but wonder how this would have done in the hands of the Coen brothers, it could have been a true classic but by the end I really was rather bored and looking forward to getting down the local for a beer before closing time.

And as for John Goodman and Paul Reiser -- is it me but do they both play exactly the same role regardless of what film they're in?

A very cliched & predictable script leads the performances, and the rest of this film straight into the land of boredom. The dialog is predictable. The scenarios play out like deja vu, ruining any possibility of this potentially great cast to have any kind of success here.

I was quite disappointed with this one. When I was sitting down to watch it, I was expecting a movie similar to a Farrelly Brothers movie ("Dumb and Dumber" ; "Kingpin" ; "There's Something About Mary").

The similarities are there with the somewhat raunchy comedy, femme-fatale character, and extreme over-the-top characters in general (Matt Dillon was in "There's Something About Mary"), and with several other aspects.

But in the end, it kind of comes off as a cheap rip-off of a Farrelly Brothers movie.

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