One Night at McCool's (2001)

Every man has a different recollection of the beautiful young woman who wreaked havoc on their lives during one heated night.

Director:

Harald Zwart

Writer:

Stan Seidel

Stars:

Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, Mary Jo Smith

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Dillon	...	Randy
Mary Jo Smith	...	Bingo Caller
Michael Douglas	...	Mr. Burmeister
Paul Reiser	...	Carl
Reba McEntire	...	Dr. Green
John Goodman	...	Detective Dehling
Richard Jenkins	...	Father Jimmy
Sandy Martin	...	Bingo Vendor Woman
Liv Tyler	...	Jewel
Andrew Dice Clay	...	Utah / Elmo (as Andrew Silverstein)
Ric Sarabia	...	Uniformed Cop at Bar
Tim DeZarn	...	Detective Ertagian
Leo Rossi	...	Joey Dinardo
Rob Neukirch	...	Deliveryman
Andrea Bendewald	...	Karen

Storyline

After another hard night at McCool's, bartender Randy runs into Jewel. The seductive lady seems to have evaded a rape pretty closely, and when the man comes back, she puts a bullet in his head. After all these events (and others), Randy takes Jewel home, and the two become a couple. Yet Jewel begins to develop into a very demanding girlfriend and drives Randy into committing crimes for her and her elaborate lifestyle. Randy's cousin Carl is driven crazy by Randy's incredibly sexy girl as well as the investigating officer, Detective Dehling.

---

Plot Keywords:

pantyhose | cult favorite | detective | robbery | leg spreading | 

---

Taglines:

Slippery when wet.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Crime

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Geri Halliwell is an influence behind Jewel Valentine.

---

Goofs

Around 16:00 in the movie, Randy get out of the bathroom with his pants on. We can clearly see that his belt is buckled. But in the next scenes, it is not anymore.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Bingo Caller: N-43. Four-three on the N.

---

Crazy Credits

Andrew Dice Clay is billed twice in the closing credits as Andrew Silverstein. He is credited this way as Utah towards the beginning of the credits and as Elmo at the very end.

---

Alternate Versions

The DVD features an alternate ending where after, we see 'Paul Reiser' get smashed by the garbage dumpster, it continues as we see Matt Dillon in his destroyed home and John Goodman lying dead on the floor; the cops come and arrest Dillon because they think he was responsible for the shooting and then we see Liv Tyler and Michael Douglas drive off and live happily ever after. This ending is refered to as "Alternate Depressing ending".

---

Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Driven/The Golden Bowl/61*/One Night at McCool's/The Luzhin Defence (2001)

---

Soundtracks

Love is Alive
(1975)
Written by Gary Wright
Performed by Joan Osborne
Courtesy of Interscope Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Oh what a night!

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 April 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

One Night at McCool's

Filming Locations:

Agoura Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,520,041, 29 April 2001

Gross USA:

$6,290,673

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$13,578,186

Company Credits

Production Co:

October Films, Furthur Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1