One Night at McCool's (2001) - Stars shine in Zwart's under-appreciated farce

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Liv Tyler will catch most people's attention, lounged forward showing cleavage in a jaguar-patterned dress on this poster for Harald Zwart's One Night at McCool's

Buxom beauty Jewel wrecks havoc on several men's lives in connection to one fateful night at McCool's.

 

One Night at McCool's is written by Stan Seidel (True Colors (1991-92)) and directed by great Dutch filmmaker Harald Zwart (Hamilton (1998)).

It is a hilarious farce, which interweaves one out there cliche to the next in an inventively written and clever script. There's a colorful team of characters, good pacing and cool music, (a Johnny Cash song and a rad shooting in the end to The Village People are highlights.)

A fantastic cast really kicks butt here: Michael Douglas (Summertree (1971)) wins just by the hairpiece he dons here alone as a hitman but of course the legend backs it up with gusto; Liv Tyler (Silent Fall (1994)) is gorgeous and extremely sexy; John Goodman (Argo (2012)) is wonderful as a religious policeman; Paul Reiser (Red Oaks (2014-17)) plays a lawyer with a gigantic ego; and Richard Jenkins (The Mod Squad (1999)) is a bowl of laughs as a Catholic priest.

 

Watch Zwart and Tyler in the latter's hair, makeup and wardrobe test for the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: 13.5 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.75 times its cost)

[One Night at McCool's premiered 19 April (UK) and runs 92 minutes. Shooting took place from August - November 1999 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #11 to a 2.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 6.2 mil. $ (45.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.8 mil. $ (13.3 %) and France with 483k $ (3.6 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Zwart returned with Hamilton (2001, miniseries), A-ha: Forever Not Yours (2002, music video) and theatrically with Agent Cody Banks (2003). Tyler returned in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001); Matt Dillon (The House That Jack Built (2018)) in Deuces Wild (2002); and Douglas in Don't Say a Word (2001). One Night at McCool's is rotten at 33 % with a 4.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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