The Paperboy Reviews

Dark, but quite liked this. Nicole Kidman is almost unrecognizable, as is John Cusack, really some strong performances and pretty unglamorous roles here.
I actually got this expecting a bad movie, but it's not at all. Mostly it's a thriller, but it's also a coming of age with Zac Efron's character and dysfunctional families (his relationship with his brother. Matthew McConaughey - excessively slimy here).

After his Oscar winning film "Precious", which was an adaptation of Sapphire's novel "Push", director Lee Daniels decides to follow that up with another adaptation. This time it's the 1995 novel of "The Paperboy" by Pete Dexter and another exploration of highly dysfunctional personalities.
Naive reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) heads back to his home town of Lately, where he's determined to exonerate convict Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), who awaits execution on death row for the supposed murder of a local Sheriff. Ward is accompanied by his brother Jack (Zac Efron), ambitious colleague Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) and flashy seductress Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) - who has a fetish for incarcerated men and Van Wetter is her latest obsession. The murky details of the investigation soon uncover truths about everyone involved and truths that were better left alone.
This is a film that's very much a mixed bag and it's easy to see why some people just didn't take to it. First off, the narrative is disjointed. At times, it doesn't seem know to which direction it's going in and the tacked-on, voiceover narration, doesn't really help matters. In the earlier part there's humour and it gives the impression that it's got it's tongue stuck firmly in it's cheek. As the film and characters grow, though, it becomes progressively darker. So much so, that it will having you wincing in both disgust and horror. These shifts in tone are less than effortless and also threaten to undo the film as a whole. However, even though the tone is uneven it's throws up many memorable moments; Kidman urinating on Efron's face, Cusack and Kidman engaging in masturbation while 10 feet apart and other brutal and shocking revelations, which I'll allow you to find out for yourself. It's in these memorable moments that you realise where the film's strengths lie; the characters are all three dimensional and the brave cast are uniformly brilliant. Efron has come a long way since his "High School Musical" days and looks like proper leading actor material; McConaughey continues his recent run of seedy and risqué roles; Cusack captures the intensity of a loutish psychopath and Kidman is a revelation as an oversexed floozie. Fine support is also delivered by a surprisingly talented Macy Gray and the enigmatic David Olywewo. It's the very commitment from these actors that has you believing in the material even when their characters' motivations are not always clear or convincing. Another big player in the proceedings is cinematographer Roberto Schaefer. He captures the searing heat and uncomfortableness of backwoods Florida to perfection while balancing the class divide and racial tension that drips from every pore.
Daniels' direction may be a little hyperstylised at times and his grasp on the film's structure is less than convincing. Incoherence does creep in and the film sags around the midriff, becoming in danger of losing interest entirely. At one point, when it should be wrapping up, it throws in further complications and character developments but to give the director his due, he knows how to drop subtle hints without revealing too much, leaving the story's denouement more satisfying than first thought. There's no doubt that this is a flawed endeavour but the scathing opinions of it are a little unwarranted, all-be-it, understandable. There is much to admire. Yes, it's trashy, tawdry and most certainly deranged but it's also edgy and unpredictable which is more than you can say for a lot of studio releases these days.
Sexploitation, exploitation and telekinetic masturbation. What more can you can ask from a film that doesn't pretend to be anything more than a deranged venture into the American south with a committed cast that are game for anything?
This might have been booed at the Cannes film festival but for it's trashy audacity alone, it deserves applause.

Mark Walker

John Cusack, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, and Zac Efron headline this very solid, seedy, noir-like crazy movie. Ward(McConaughey) is a reporter who chases a big story by trying to get a killer Hillary(Cusack), who is on death row, off of death row by proving his innocence. Kidman played Charlotte, a "death row groupie" who is engaged to Hilary, and starts a "friendship" type relationship with Ward's little brother Jack(Efron). It's a very intricate movie, and it's hard to explain without ruining the movie. All I knew before watching it was Kidman was up for a Golden Globe, and she pees on Efron(which she does). Kidman is great and probably should have gotten a Supporting Actress nod at the Oscars(she deserves it more than Weaver in "Silver Lining Playbook" I think). But the best performance in this is Cusack. This is nothing like anything he has ever done, and it's amazing to see him like this. He is a total creep, and it may be hard to watch him in his usual nice guys roles again. Efron and McConaughey are both good and when it was over I looked at my wife and said "man, McConaughey had it rough in this movie"(watch it and you'll know why). This movie reminded me a lot like "Killer Joe", in that when you get done you'll want to wash your hands and take a shower. Check it out.

"This movie reminded me just how creepy John Cusack can be. I am a huge fan of his and when he does films like this, it is a great reminder of how truly talented an actor he is.
I wasn't quite sure if I was going to like this film. I had heard about it around the movie sites and seen a glimpse of a preview for it, but I never really knew what it was about. I guess I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, because it isn't a film one enjoys considering the things that take place. But it was good. I think what made this story work was the actor's. Their performances alone made this movie. I think I was mostly surprised by Kidmans performance. Its unlike anything I have ever witnessed her do before. She was raunchy with no shame. She just seems so shy in real life that it was like having cold water thrown in your face to see her do a performance like this and do it so well. I thought she was fantastic. Efron continues to impress me not only with his choice of movie roles, but his performances. He is turning out to be a good actor. I was sure I would never take him serious, but here I am doing just that. McConaughey gives out a good performance as well. He is never disappointing in such serious roles. Another surprise was Macy Gray. I liked her character, Anita, and I thought she was really good in this.
The story is one disturbing tale of Chalotte's obsession with prisoners and her new found love in Hillary Van Wetter, a man sentenced to death for killing a local Officer. Charlottes swears his innocence and brings in Ward and Yardley to help her prove he is innocent of the crime. But once you see how creepy and crazy Wetter is, it's hard to tell if the man really is innocent. I won't give any of it away.
It's a solid movie with great performances form a great cast. I would see it again."

"The Paperboy" has such a unique story to tell, but when it is accompanied by sloppy filmmaking it almost makes the film feel completely two-sided. Sometimes there are moments of pure greatness in the story, acting, and the way that everything is presented, but the direction and production feels like it is so far under that level that it feels like two separate portions of a film mashed into one. Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey are great together as Journalists who come to investigate a story about a woman getting her husband out of prison. The plot thickens as she begins to fall for one of the journalists. I must say that Nicole Kidman's performance is unlike anything she has ever done and I highly admired that. This film has so many things wrong with it, but I loved the substance. "The Paperboy" works out to be just another film, and that's pretty sad.

Horrible mess of a movie and once again another misfire from Lee Daniels who is the much appraised director of equally trashy Precious. The Paperboy has melodrama, murder mystery and comedy thrown into together and none of those elements really work.
Like in his Precious, Daniels visual style comes as a highly distracting and annoying element. With completely pointless use of split screens and pretentious and artsy flashes of nature this film buries itself under it's own visual ambition. Daniels is clearly more suitable director for music videos than feature films.
Much has been said about Nicole Kidman's performance as a dangerous Charlotte Bless. Her femme fatale is just so over the top on every level that it is hard to take Kidman's performance serious. Actually at times it comes just a downright embarassing to watch her in a unthankful role like this. There are also names like John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey involved in here but they can't bring anything for this film which is sadly dead on arrival. Title role belongs to Zac Efron and while he may surprisingly got the most out of his character it is still a performance that does stick with you and is actually very average.
I personally think that somewhere beneath Peter Dexter's story is a film that could have been a great one. The Paperboy has tons of potential with it's atmospheric location, twisted approach and far out characters but Daniels is just completely wrong director for adapting the book into a screen. This is a trashy film and example of a missed opportunity.

It looks and feels like something made in the 1970s but with this sordid quality about it that makes it so absurdly hilarious in all its filthy nonsense - thanks also to a terrific performance by Nicole Kidman as the trashy Southern blonde, who steals every scene she appears in.

Infatuated with death-row inmate Cusack, small-town Florida resident Kidman calls on two reporters, McConaughey and Oyelowo, from the Miami Times to investigate the case. McConaughey's kid brother, Efron, becomes obsessed with Kidman who constantly teases the young man.
The director of 'Precious' returns with another misjudged turkey. To describe it as the bastard child of Tennessee Williams and David Lynch is to give the film far too much credit but this seems to be what Daniels is aiming for. Instead, it resembles an uncomfortable collaboration between John Waters and John Grisham. A quality cast embarrass themselves with bad Southern accents and the director seems intent on shocking us with moments of extreme violence and sexuality which merely feel like the work of a juvenile creator.

Though this film will end up being the least respectable in the renaissance of Matthew McConaughey it is necessary to point out he, along with Macy Gray, are the saving grace this film needed to be rescued from the otherworldly mess it could have been and almost is. The Paperboy is based on a 1995 novel of the same name by Pete Dexter and though I've never read the book myself I can imagine the narrative being much more satisfying when built inside the brain rather than watching this incarnation of it smoulder along until it finally becomes somewhat engaging in the final act and becomes ablaze. Shot as a film noir full of sex and racism Lee Daniels follow up to his Oscar nominated Precious shows no signs of what made his previous film so moving. Granted, this is a different kind of movie altogether, but the subject matter could easily draw many similar themes. In 1960's south Florida a reporter and his partner (McConaughey and David Oyelowo) come to town from Miami hoping to investigate a murder case where they believe Hillary Van Wetter (a great, but underused John Cusack) has been framed for the murder of the corrupt local sheriff. When McConaughey's Ward Jansen arrives in town he enlists the help of his younger brother Jack (Zac Efron who is sponsored by Fruit of the Loom) and a woman who has been in contact and fallen in love with Mr. Van Wetter while on death row, Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman). Yes, this is the movie where Kidman pees on Efron and that only serves to illustrate the trust the otherwise great cast has put in their director but what Mr. Daniels has churned out here is an incoherent mess of a movie that drags along and feels like it is going nowhere only to fall back on twists that we can see coming from a mile away. I won't fault the film for trying as it has a clear visual style, interesting musical choices and fine performances, but when a film fails as bad as this one it is very easy to tell the difference between effort and just plain bad.

Destined to become one of those infamously bad movies that people watch for camp. Let me tell you why:
1.The story makes absolutely no sense
2.Lee Daniels' direction is amateurish
3.The editing must have been done in a drunken stupor
4.The characters are all offensive southern caricatures
5.Macy Gray's voice-over narration is unintelligible
6.Nicole Kidman and John Cusack have the most disturbing mutual masturbation scene ever put on film (and their protracted sex scene later-on is just as upsetting)
7.Zac Efron's performance consists of brooding, mumbling, and sitting around (or dancing) in his underwear
8.Kidman pees on Efron after he gets stung by a jellyfish
9.McConaughey plays a closeted homosexual who enjoys having men rape and beat him
10.The ending is laughable and pathetic.

Credit due to the well known cast for taking on roles that are well out of their comfort zones, but The Paperboy is an uneven, messy film. Struggling to engage with a plot that's been done to death, this will mostly be remembered for its unorthodox narrative devices that seem more like gimmicks than anything all that shocking.

Reminiscent of the punch provided by "The Killer Inside Me", Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" places Zac Efron in a performance driven drama that forces him to prove his acting prowess, and he comes out the better for it. Still overshadowed by his acting counterparts, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, and John Cusack deliver extraordinary performances, all outside of their normal, respected roles. The plot is standard, with very few surprises, and those that do exist come off flat and purely for shock value. However, "The Paperboy" remains sexually charged and does not disappoint, also marking the first truly great performance from Macy Gray, as the housekeeper.

The Paperboy is a film of two halves for me, one half is a stylish vintage looking film which captures a certain kind of mood, perfect for it's 1970's setting. The other half however is a film with a lack of story or direction which wanders around in circles for an hour before finding what it was looking for all along. The cast do well, Matthew McConaughey and Joan Cusack especially and they aren't un-pleasing to watch but after a while of viewing The Paperboy you will want to start searching for the fast forward button.

The only thing... literally the one single, solitary thing that's enjoyable about this movie is the Zac Efron eye candy. Absolutely everything else is a waste of time, and that is a travesty given the incredible cast. I should have expected as much, I suppose, but this was the most bitterly disappointed I've been in a film in quite some time. Normally I am a huge fan of John Cusack but not even he could save this mess. Don't bother. I shouldn't have.

I gave this movie 4.5 stars because there are few movies that can capture the swamps of FL in such an accurate fashion. With John Cusack and Nicole Kidman and even Matthew McConaughey who has played the role of southern lawyer seeking justice before, there was also great acting.

Huh? Let me begin by making one thing clear. Despite some terrific individual performances, I thought this film was utter dreck. Oddly enough, I usually despise Nicole Kidman, but this may have been my favorite role from her. And John Cusack's monster, OMG I'd rather come face to face with Jason and Freddy together than this psychotic swamp trash. All the individual performances were actually solid, if not excellent, but that's where the happy ends. All aspects considered (dumb editing, pointlessly sloppy cinematography, boring script and random, painfully slow pacing for example), this mess was no more than a blight on our always much anticipated evening of food and film. Did I mention how utterly creepy Cusack's character was? Ish.

Uhhhm. This movie really had so many things that I never wanted to see, Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron was just one of those things. Efron really impressed me, though. And whoa, Macy Gray.. where have you been!?

Words that come to mind when I think back on watching 'The Paperboy': sloppy, bizarre, underwear, jump cuts, Efron's accent, awesome Kidman, rape, swamps, and URINE.

What do all of these words add up to? AVOID IT.