ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL'S

I guess I was a little disappointed.
I went into One Night At McCool's expecting a dark comedy, and I guess that's what I got…but why then was I not completely satisfied?

One Night at McCool's has a pretty good cast, with Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser, Andrew Silverstein, Eric Schaeffer, and Michael Douglas.
These are all the men who's lives are touched in many ways by the presence of one woman; Liv Tyler.
As Jewel, Liv Tyler is supposed to be this steamy seductress, but she doesn't really do it for me.. I think she's all push up bras and dyed hair, with very little substance, and quite frankly, her acting is not all that…in fact, her voice doesn't carry at all, so she's very limited.
Damn, this all seems so harsh…

I think that all the men in the film do a good job. All the characters are over the top caricatures but they all do a good job with what they're given. I think the stand out would be Reiser, for playing a role so different from his best known role on TV's Mad About You.
Michael Douglas plays a very different role here too, but it's his appearance even more than his character that's disconcerting. Not pretty at all.
I also really liked Andrew Silverstein.
Maybe you don't know him by that, his real name, but one look you'll recognize him instantly. I dunno if you can consider his role a cameo, or that of a country star a cameo either, since they are both billed, but they're both unexpected.

One Night at McCool's was directed by Harald Zwart, whom I have never heard of. I think he did a good job with some of the slightly "MTV" style camera shots and cuts.
The screenplay was by somebody else I've never heard of, Stan Seidel, who actually passed away almost a year ago. The film is dedicated to his memory. He did a pretty good job of telling the story from different points of view, but it did lag a bit, and just never had me laughing hard.
One Night at McCool's is a lazy Sunday afternoon cable flick.
Your box office dollars can be better spent elsewhere…

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