Mr. Brooks

So I went to see Mr. Brooks.

It was an above average movie that, with less Hollywood group-think, could have been a good movie. In his thrillers, Alfred Hitchcock seemed to ask us to willingly suspend our disbelief for a couple of hours ... and then he would reward us well for that effort.

Here, however, there is a superfluous escaped convict subplot that does nothing but distract from the psychological thriller we are watching. There is a multi-millionaire tough cop.

And then there is the gratuitous gore at the movie's conclusion - and I don't wish to be a plot spoiler here - that could have been a Hitchcockian moment without the blood: that is, would it happen or would it not?

But Hollywoodism won out. Oh well.

Even before the movie, I experienced a Catch 22 moment.

I ordered my tickets on line to avoid waiting in line - there's a surcharge for the privilege. But not clearly stipulated, until one arrives at the movie theater, was that tickets for R-rated movies must be picked up at the counter ... standing in line!