Kevin Costner is the koala bear of actors, finicky and unadaptive by nature. If the role fits Costner - provides him with the right metaphorical eucalyptus tree of an "Open Range" or "The Upside of Anger" - he snuggles right in and owns the story. Plop him in alien territory - let's say "Waterworld" or "Rumor Has It" - and he will flatten the movie right out. It's a quality that makes him a chancy bet at a casting call.

"Mr. Brooks," the crime thriller by director Bruce Evans, solves this problem in a novel way. It employs the buddy system.

Costner is the Earl Brooks of the film's title, a wealthy, buttoned-down businessman with a secret life. He is driven by a demon, a lust for murder that has turned him into an infamous serial killer. In "Mr. Brooks" that demon has a name, Marshall, and the face of William Hurt. Hurt plays this twisted piece of Brooks' psyche, arguing with him through AA meetings and consulting on the technical aspects of murder when Brook's will to reform finally breaks down.

Hurt's character is a conceit that could easily have fallen on its face, but Hurt is too good of an actor and is having too much fun to let that happen. While Costner gives a solid, if somewhat uneven performance, Hurt is brilliant and the coupling of Brooks and Marshall provides the film's electricity.

Brooks, a cunning and meticulous killer, slips up in one murder and is photographed by a stranger. The photographer, Mr. Smith (Dane Cook), blackmails Brooks but not for money. He wants to tag along as a tourist in Brooks' dark world.

Meanwhile Brooks is being stalked himself by a police detective who is almost as smart and compulsive as he is. Just to keep things interesting the detective, Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), is looking over her shoulder for another serial killer who has escaped prison bent on revenge for her putting him away. OK, so there's a lot going on in this movie.

The beauty of "Mr. Brooks" (aside from William Hurt) is the way Evans and his co-writer, Raynold Gideon, weave its many elements into an intelligent and energetic storyline. This is a film of sharp, satisfying dialogue and startling twists. In some ways its script comes across as a better-mannered cousin to "The Departed" with the various characters' best-laid plans bumping into each other at the most inconvenient times.

At the center of this wild ride is the humanity of Hurt and Costner's composite Mr. Brooks. Evans presents him as both villain and tragic hero - the calculating murderer, doting father, and wounded addict trying to put a mend on his broken soul with prayer and AA meetings.

"Mr. Brooks" is not a great movie, certainly no competition for "Silence of the Lambs", but it does qualify as a satisfying bit of summer entertainment. It's kind of like a thinking man's "Die Hard" - a chance to get an adrenaline rush without having to turn your brain off.

If "Mr. Brooks" fails at anything it is the ending. Like a juggler who has managed to get a breath-taking number of balls in the air, Evans doesn't know how to gracefully get off the stage. While Evans has given us a basketful of thrills, his artful construction of Earl Brooks has set up an expectation of something more. The film yearns for a Shakespearian ending - for the cold blade of fate to fall on the killer or the father. Evans gives it his best shot but he's already spent his best ideas and can't come up with anything to tie them all together.

Directed by Bruce Evans

Rated: R

(Three Stars)

Bruce Bulloch may be reached at wseditor@robinsonnews.com