A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate.
The Paperboy hints at something great, but squint past the trickles of perspiration and you’re left wanting.
Though not quite the trainwreck that its kicking at Cannes suggested, The Paperboy doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. A sort-of Killer Joe meets Wild Things, the performances are great, though, and anyone who likes the sight of Zac Efron in his pants will be in heaven.
The Paperboy hints at something great, but squint past the trickles of perspiration and you’re left wanting.
Missing is any sense of urgency about the murder case it is supposed to be investigating. Also missing is coherence, and any sense that this profane potboiler deserves much more than some disbelieving snorts when it comes to DVD.
A superb Kidman takes off the handbrake, and most everything else, in Daniels' southern-fried follow-up to Precious. Watch it with Killer Joe for the ultimate sweaty, twisted double-bill.
Apart from the cast, The Paperboy just doesn’t deliver.
As a piece of art this is all lust, no caution; a heady mirage of sex, swamps and soul music that wants nothing more than for you to share in the joke. Thank goodness I finally got it.
All the dials are deliberately turned up to 11. This is an undrained swamp of fear, black comedy and desire: nasty, sexy, funny – with a great period soundtrack and so humid that any screen showing it is liable to get microscopically pebbledashed with droplets of sweat.
Apparently, when they showed it at Cannes last year audiences booed. If that doesn't clinch it as a recommendation I don't know what will.
Sleazy shambles.
Even with a quality cast you are still left wondering just what they all saw in such a lurid, overwrought slab of Gothic trash.
Everyone in it plays their part well, but Kidman delivers the kind of unexpected, jaw- dropping, movie-star performance that you can't take your eyes off, even when you'd like to.
A sleazy, overstuffed and terribly directed mess. But never boring and occasionally jaw-dropping.
It falls apart at the seams as it careers along. But it's great fun watching.
Wastes an exceptional cast on an incoherent tale.
Daniels’ parallels the culture of casual racism against the many other ways in which people make excuses for their own misdeeds resulting in an intoxicating mix of romance, tragedy and thriller.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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