One Night at McCools

Plot

The majority of the film consists of Randy, Carl, and Dehling reciting their separate lovesick accounts of their experiences with Jewel, each narrating over what they consider to be the real version of the recent events. Scenes are often re-enacted twice, with different accounts contradicting each other for comedic effect. For example, when Dehling is narrating, he acts as if he were a completely fair, by-the-book police officer, and Randy is painted as a slimy, macho, abusive thug. When Randy is telling the story, he is the innocent victim and Dehling is shown as a suspicious, prying, hard-nosed cop; Carl is convinced that every woman is in love with him, and during his version of the tale, everyone acts accordingly.

Cast

Production

Writer Stan Seidel, who died prior to the film's release, drew much of the film's material from Randy Dana's days as a bartender at Humphrey's Restaurant & Tavern, a college bar located in the midst of St. Louis University.

Reception

The film garnered mixed to poor reviews (Rotten Tomatoes rated it at 33%), with Roger Ebert saying that the film "is so busy with its crosscut structure and its interlocking stories that it never really gives us anyone to identify with" but that "it has a lot of fun being a near miss."