The Paperboy (2012) User Reviews

What's the Point When Depravity Is the Point?

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 15 April 2013]

The infamous reputation of "The Paperboy" preceded my viewing of it, and I have to say after seeing it myself that it's......not that bad.

It's not good, exactly, but I've seen much worse. You certainly can't criticize it for being boring, and I always say that if a movie is going to be bad, much better to be entertainingly bad than just merely dull. The film's biggest problem is a lack of focus. There are a lot of characters in it, all of them ugly, trashy people and played by the likes of Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey and John Cusack, but I never knew whose story this was or through whose point of view this story was being told. It's a sleazy, tawdry story set in the swamps of Florida about a crazy woman (Kidman) who's obsessed with a convict (Cusack) and two brothers (Efron and McConaughey), one who is himself obsessed with her and the other who is obsessed with clearing the convict's name. All of them are asked to do degrading things on camera, and the film has a hateful tone about humanity and the depraved things depraved people will do.

But did I mention that it's never boring?

Grade: B-

The Paperboy

[BTaylor1990 · 6/10 · 15 February 2013]

The Paperboy (Lee Daniels, 2012) 3/5 Lee Daniels follow up to his heart wrenching Precious will make you feel dirty. In fact, there are times where you just feel the need to scrub yourself incessantly so you can cope with what is occurring on screen! Based on Peter Dexter's novel of the same name, the narrative follows two investigative journalists - Yardley Acheman and Ward Jansen - who aim to write a story to release convicted murderer Hillary Van Wetter. With the help of nymphomaniac Charlotte Bless, who corresponds with Wetter in prison and Ward's younger brother Jack they soon uncover not everything is what it seems in the sticky heat of the South.

The best way to get your head around is by remembering the exploitation films of the 1970's, where sex, drugs and violence were a staple. If you do this, then you can appreciate what Daniels and his producers were trying to achieve. Indeed, this is one of the films strengths as it pulls no punches at being explicit wherever possible, which garnered extremely mixed reviews when it was screened at Cannes last year.

The acting pedigree of the film is high with Matthew McConaughey and Zac Effron playing the two brothers, with Nicole Kidman excelling in her role as the troubled Miss Bless. However what damages the film is the slow pace and the lack of a proper twist. Generally speaking death-row thrillers have a big reveal at the end or a taut emotional climax. For example A Time to Kill, The Life of David Gale and Dead Man Waking all succeeded because they took the audience right through the investigation. The Paperboy does this to an certain extent; however it glosses over a majority of this in favour of highlighting the sweaty atmosphere of the inhabitants. At times, this becomes so overwhelming that it is difficult to think of anything else, let alone follow the characters as they reveal their dark sides and personal demons. Another issue is casting Macy Gray as the narrator. She might be one of the most annoying maids in film history and, unfortunately, you are stuck with her voice-over for the entire proceedings.

The cinematography is excellent as Roberto Schaefer's camera gets so close to the characters that you can almost smell their body odour in the immense heat. Yes, I told you this film would make you feel dirty. A great example of this is where Charlotte meets Wetter for the first time. They are sat apart in the prison meeting room; Charlotte spread her legs and begins to masturbate. This scene wouldn't have been so bad if they were alone, but Yardley, Ward and Jack are also in the room. Take that as you will… Even though The Paperboy is an uneven thriller, what it excels in is placing the audience in uncomfortable positions. A Haneke film this is not, but by doing this the whole issue of morality and senses in the cinema is raised. As such, Daniels new feature is a sweaty, sexy and visceral experience, which needed to take some more pointers from other more complete films. All in all, you may have to scrub yourself clean, but you won't forget the experience for quite some time.

Shades of "Deliverance"

[nyshrink · 7/10 · 21 October 2012]

This film reminded me quite a bit of "Deliverance." It's about how well-meaning people can end up way over their heads by getting involved with people and subcultures with which they're not familiar. It's less riveting than "Deliverance" but has more sympathy toward its characters.

The plot revolves around a small group of people who join forces for a cause: A woman who wants to free a prisoner she's become enamored of (by mail) and a couple of newspaper reporters who want to dig up the truth about the crime. One of the reporters is seeking justice, the other has a slightly different agenda. The idealistic reporter has a younger brother (Zac Efron) who is an innocent. Innocence, idealism and romanticism come up against opportunism and sociopathy and some of what happens is not too much of a surprise. The end of the movie had a great deal of dramatic potential and could have been more suspenseful in the hands of a more polished director. The movie overall is somewhat lurid, a Southern Gothic, but not as lurid as some critics have claimed. Overall it is a movie with some poignancy.

Great Performances but Somewhat Weak Story

[Michael_Elliott · 8 November 2012]

The Paperboy (2012)

*** (out of 4)

Lee Daniels' adaptation of the Peter Dexter novel taking a look at some swamp trash and a mystery surrounding them. Reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) returns to his hometown to try and solve the mystery behind a sheriff who was killed. Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) is on death row for the crime but the reporter believes he is innocent and drags his younger brother (Zac Efron) and a trashy woman (Nicole Kidman) into things. THE PAPERBOY is a pretty unpleasant look at a bunch of characters you can't help but hate and it's funny to see McConaughey really changing his "image" here as well as in the year's earlier KILLER JOE. I think the best thing about the picture are the performances as well as the authentic feel that director Daniels brings to the picture. The biggest problem is the screenplay and a story that I just felt wasn't all that captivating. The entire mystery surrounding what really happened to the sheriff seems to take a backseat and it really just seems to come and go at times. I'm really not sure why it was thrown in the background as much and especially with the twists that come towards the end. With the twists you'd think that the filmmakers were wanting the story itself to be important but it just never really takes off. It also seems that the director wants to shock the viewer with some rather graphic violence and sexual situations, which have the stars all doing some pretty wild things. It really does seem as if the film is just building up to each of these scenes and it's fair to say that they're quite memorable. The performances from the entire cast are terrific with both McConaughey and Kidman doing wonders with their swamp trash characters. I thought both of them were incredibly believable and hats off to them for going as far out as they did. I was also impressed with Efron and thought he handled the character's development quite well. Cusack was terrific playing the creepy bad guy and we also got strong support from David Oyelowo, Scott Glenn and Macy Gray. The cinematography is also good as is the music score and the atmosphere. THE PAPERBOY, as is, is a good showcase for its stars but you can't help but feel it's a missed opportunity as a stronger story would have made it even better.

The moral swamp of the seedy South

[rooee · 7/10 · 22 March 2013]

Lee Daniels' follow-up to the powerful Precious is an atmospheric work of Southern Gothic, based on a novel by Pete Dexter. Some might be precious (!) about their favourite books, but great films have been made which bear little resemblance to their source material, as fans of Dr Strangelove will know. I wouldn't call The Paperboy great, but with weightless yawners like Hansel & Gretel and Oz currently clogging the cinema, its rawness and energy is like licking an electric fence. In a good way. Grainy, saturated and wilfully unfocused, The Paperboy is a reminder of the power of 2D.

Matthew McConaughey continues his resurgence, tapping into a hitherto hidden vulnerability. He plays Ward Jansen, a journalist who arrives in the back-of-beyond with his partner, Yardley (David Oyelowo). They're in town to write a story about the unlawful conviction of Hilary Van Wetter (John Cusack). To entice him they employ Charlotte (Nicole Kidman, fearless), who's in love with Hilary, or the idea of Hilary. Finally, and centrally, there is scared, smouldering Jack Jansen, played by a very capable Zac Efron.

Jack wants to steal Charlotte away from all this: the alligator-gutters and the insufferable heat. Nicole thinks he knows nothing because he's young, but one of the films myriad themes is the value of youthful idealism: Jack is the only one of the main characters yet to plunge down a rabbit-hole of hopelessness and self-service. There is genuine affection on show, though, of the brotherly kind between Ward and Jack, and the motherly kind between Jack and Anita (a subtle and funny Macy Gray; further proof of Daniels' aptitude for bringing the best and least showy from musicians-turned-actors).

The film is ramshackle and imperfect - but this kind of works. It skitters along with little attention paid to the audience, with precise relationships between characters rarely spelled out, and chunks of action entirely elided. It's not quite as funny or bleak as the similarly southern-fried Killer Joe, but I do believe that The Paperboy has a more humanist agenda than William Friedkin's film, basically emerging on the side of people, broken as they often become.

Like Precious, this is a film containing difficult individual scenes, and a troubling ambivalence about whether we're investing in a set of real characters or peering at them through museum glass. But there's no doubt, when the camera starts rolling, that Daniels sets out to challenge his audience. In that respect, he has succeeded.

The movie is sleazy and trashy pulp like the films of yesteryear, a mixed bag but it has it's qualities.

[Hellmant · 7/10 · 25 January 2013]

'THE PAPERBOY': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An all-star cast highlights this bizarre dramatic thriller based on the book (of the same name) by Pete Dexter. The cast features Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo, Scott Glenn and Macy Gray all playing against type in unusual roles (for each actor). It was written (along with Dexter) and directed by Lee Daniels (who is most well known for directing the critical darling and Oscar nominated 'PRECIOUS', which was also based on a popular book). The movie itself has gotten mostly bad reviews but Kidman has gotten plenty of high critical praise and award recognition for her performance in it (including a supporting actress Golden Globe nomination). The rest of the cast has been well received as well and Daniels is still seen as a skilled director but the trashy content of the film as well as it's overall muddled nature have been negatively criticized by many. I agree with the criticisms but still feel like I have to give it a lot of respect and credit for what it does manage to accomplish.

The film revolves around a man named Hillary Van Wetter (Cusack) who's on death row for the murder of a local sheriff in a small Florida town. He's been communicating with a woman, Charlotte Bless (Kidman), he's never met via letters. Charlotte believes she's in love with Hillary and calls on the help of two reporters from Miami, Ward Jansen (McConaughey) and Yardley Acheman (Oyelowo), to help her prove he's innocent. Believing new evidence is available the two reporters travel to the Florida town, which is a return home for Ward (to the town he grew up in). Ward visits his dad (Glenn) and his new girlfriend (Nealla Gordon), who distribute his paper there. He also reunites with his kid brother Jack (Efron), who helps with their investigation. Jack is young and inexperienced with women and immediately falls for the sexy Charlotte. The Jansen's maid Anita (Gray) is Jack's only friend and she narrates the story.

The movie is sleazy and trashy pulp like the films of yesteryear. Daniels brings a lot of style to his storytelling but it's still a mess. The visuals are often haunting and disturbing and you never really know where the film is going or what to make of anyone or anything in it. It is bizarrely interesting though and entertaining in a somewhat bitter way. Like a lot of films it has a lot of great moments but a lot of bad ones in between as well. The cast is all fantastic; Cusack is very strange and creepy, McConaughey seems to be playing a character like many others he's done before but he does take a sharp character twist, Efron is good as the shy yet determined heart of the film and Kidman is fantastic as the sex obsessed vixen. The movie is a mixed bag but it definitely has it's qualities.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcoZRlVFMzA

A most bizarre swamp gumbo

[phd_travel · 3/10 · 18 October 2013]

This is a bizarre story of a collection of very strange people in swamp land. A reporter (McConaughey) and his brother (Efron) help exonerate a man (Cusack) for killing a sheriff.

Nicole Kidman tests her acting ability and is quite convincing as a self destructive white trash who falls in love with the prisoner (John Cusack). She's got the dialog and body language down and looks very different from her usual ladylike sophisticated self.

Poor Matthew McConaughey, uglied up, raped beaten maimed and finally throat cut.

Zaf Efron looks quite convincingly lovesick as the totally whipped guy in love with Kidman's character. What an idiot his character is causing the death of his brother.

Still don't understand the point of freeing Cusack so he could murder.

A major directing and screenplay flaw is that some plot elements are revealed in heavily accented dialog which is hard to follow.

To cap this often senseless story is a lush 60s European style film score that is quite inappropriately beautiful.

Watch it if you are a fan of the stars but be prepared it's way out there.

Deep movie which might disturb some people. 7/10

[leonblackwood · 7/10 · 5 August 2013]

Review: This is a brilliant film which starts of like A Time To Kill which also started Matthew McConaughey whose trying to prove the innocence of someone on Death Row in the Deep South. After a while the film spirals into the characters individual problems which were very well written and directed. All of the actors put in great performances and you do feel for each character and the problems that they face in life. There are many explicit scenes which people might find disturbing and judging by the money that the movie made, the actors didn't get the recognition that they deserved. I always find movies about the Deep South disturbing because of the racism and the way that people treat each other, which was why I kind of knew what to expect from the film, but I was very surprised with how deep the director went into each characters personalities and he really pushed it to the extreme. A Great Watch!

Round-Up: Macy Gray fitted in well as the help for the family and I loved her relations with Zachary Efron. Nicole Kidman and John Cusack really pushed there characters to the max, and they played them very convincingly. Zac Efron was just being Zac Efron, but he fitted in well in the movie. McConaughey's character is very complex and pretty twisted, but the director chose to stick with the Efron character who does go through a lot for his age. I realised, whilst watching the bonus bits on the DVD, that The Paperboy is a famous book which was why the actors wanted to do the movie, so maybe I should read the book to have a deeper look into each character.

Budget: $12.5milliom Worldwide Gross: $1.5million (Deserved much more.)

I recommend this movie to people who like there deep dramas set in the Deep South about a man on Death Row. 7/10

Pointless

[memyselfblogger · 1/10 · 7 September 2013]

While the acting is pretty good and the film explores some very interesting ideas, it sadly has no point whatsoever. The storyline severely lacks any kind of line and leaves you feeling like you've wasted your time. Weird flashback techniques occasionally overly subtle script make it difficult to understand or enjoy. I found the scenes where Hillary and Charlotte engage exceptionally disturbing and unnecessary. Issues with love, self-acceptance and racism are well dealt with and carried by outstanding acting, however the movie falls apart because the nonsensical storyline doesn't pull anything together and fails miserably to garner any understanding or interest. Very disappointed.

A very gritty and depressing movie full of great acting and writing. The style really adds to the movie. Very good movie. I say B

[cosmo_tiger · 7/10 · 22 January 2013]

"You seem like the only person who thinks Hillary is innocent." Ward Jansen (McConaughey) is a reporter who comes back to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate. When he starts to dig into the case things get more and more strange and he is left wondering who is telling the truth and why are some people hiding the truth. This is a hard movie to review. I really liked it but it is not for everyone. The acting is amazing and really carries the movie. It is filmed in the style of a 60's type movie and is very gritty and I like the style. The movie itself however is a little slow but keeps you interested the whole time and you really begin to feel for all the characters. Even Zac Efron does a great job in this. This is not a happy movie at all and by the time the end comes you wonder if everyone got what they deserved or if it was all too much. If you are looking for action movies this is not it. This is more of a character driven drama that I enjoyed that had great acting and deserves to be seen by more people then will see it. Overall, very good but depressing. I give it a B.

Worthless smelly garbage

[pbento68 · 1/10 · 13 July 2013]

Despite strong performances from some of the actors(Cusack was pretty creepy), none of the characters in this film vaguely resembles any person who has actually lived on this planet. There are only one-dimensional stereotypes and excuses to insert "shocking twists" into a rather unimportant and undeveloped "story".

You have a reporter(?) out to expose the truth about a wrongful conviction. A woman obsessed with a imprisoned killer who says it's because he is innocent, but really she just doesn't think she deserves any better. A housekeeper who is narrating the story(who is difficult to understand) for some unknown person for some unknown purpose. A kid who sits around and feels jealous of everyone else's relationships and pines for the previously mentioned prison groupie, because, well as is the norm in this film who knows(or cares for that matter).But it is insinuated because she reminds him of his mommy. And she is of course unrealistically hot for a prison groupie. These characters are not explained or developed in any meaningful way aside from the fact that the boy has mommy abandonment issues, the reporter is ashamed by his homosexual desire for black men and, oh white people were really racist back in the day. And swamp people walk around naked with dead alligators hanging everywhere. And eat ice cream out of pots. And I guess they had not yet invented air-conditioning or indoor plumbing whenever this film was supposed to take place. Because most of the characters are covered in dirt and sweat throughout.

These characters serve only as a prop, as does the story and film itself for the writer/director's desire to "shock" the audience and show how brave they are for using the "n-word" and showing taboo things like masturbation, rape, gay bondage rape and alligator guts. Oh and don't forget pointless urination and the constant reminder that the world is and has always been a terrible place and any attempts to do the right thing will be met with disappointment and murder.

They do not develop any tension in the so-called story relating to the completely inconsequential investigation and consistently have every major plot development off screen. Focusing mostly on the fantasies (twisted and otherwise) of I presume the writer. A complete waste of time and film. All concerned should be ashamed to be associated with this cinematic cum stain.

A quick dip in the Louisiana swamps

[socrates99 · 9/10 · 26 January 2013]

First off, I'd heard of Zac Efron, somewhere, I thought he was some teeny bopper's fantasy. But this kid is no lightweight. He's quite good here in an ultra adult film, as is everyone else, all playing against type: Kidman as a slut, McConaughey as a sexually troubled man, John Cusack as a backwoods maniac, and Macy Gray as a lovable servant.

My wife hated the movie but couldn't take her eyes off of it. And by its end, we were both thinking that was quite a ride. What more do we want from our movies? Everyone here, maybe a little less so with Efron who's the novice, abandons themselves to their parts. I didn't even catch Gray in a misstep though she's a novice too. They all channel their people quite successfully in a well-directed though not for the kids, movie that manages to shine a light on a south that actually was and for all I know still is in places.

the director's gaze

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 19 March 2013]

With all the talk of this being too, violent, too crude and too violent, I thought maybe I was in for a treat, but not really. Now everyone in this does their level best. Despite the terrible script everyone performs their part as well as possible. That the piece remains unsatisfactory is because, seemingly, Lee Daniels is no great shakes at the directing job. For every good thing that Nicole Kidman does there is a bad edit or nonsense cut to take away any impact that might have been achieved. It is as if the director is aware of the possibility of creating devastating sequences but breaks it all up to avoid that very event. Full of good moments and potentially great moments, this is all over the place and in the end the only thing vaguely of interest is the director's gaze upon Zac Efron. Why have all that great b/w opening and then forget about it and wallow in some kid's fantasy life with his maid or his subsequent ridiculous longing for the older Kidman character, even if she is rather fetchingly trashed up?

Doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.

[jasace50 · 3/10 · 12 January 2013]

I understand why some people think this movie is OK. It has some good actors, and it explores some dark issues. Unfortunately it is a roller-coaster ride going from mundane to awkward with little point to the journey. There is no cleverness, no real plot, and nothing of note to keep you watching except for the hope of a good ending. Too much effort went into trying to shock the viewer than went into actually making an involving story. The characters are obviously intended to polarise viewers, but they have tried too hard and the characters have been made uniformly unlikeable. The ending shows promise, but then true to the movie's form, it crashes back to mediocrity. The flashback concept is also so pointless. It has no relevance and no real callback to the present. The consequences of the story lead nowhere, and your are left feeling that sitting through this movie was equally pointless. The dialog also leads to confusion, it doesn't help to engage you at any deeper level and I couldn't really be bothered to dissect it too much. This paperboy does not deliver.

Daniels Messes Up Any Chance it Had

[RyanCShowers · 9 September 2013]

After the emotional kick in the gut with Precious, one may go into The Paperboy anticipating something of a roller coaster ride from Lee Daniels and the talented cast, but The Paperboy isn't Precious by any means. The quality of the film itself is so crummy, it's a wonder this high profile cast was attracted to it. Through all the cheesy and trashy aspects of the film, The Paperboy at least pushes the boundaries of what we expect and creates some shocking scenes in its plot.

The screenplay does have a fairly intriguing plot, it's bites off a lot of issues to talk about, but never fully realizes any of them. Sometimes the "issues" are so thin, they slide right by the viewer. The most fun for the viewer is to watch the interaction between Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman's characters. It's an usual romantic relationship. Everything unusual is what The Paperboy has going for its screenplay. The script does develop the characters fairly well, some of the characters more than others.

The acting is the saving grace of The Paperboy and is what makes it watchable. Though John Cusack doesn't convince us in his juicy role, the rest of the cast is good. Zac Efron is decent in his protagonist role, Matthew McConaughey does fairly good work, but the true star is Nicole Kidman. It's a role that requires a lot of courage. The actress who had to play Charlotte would had to embarrass herself completely; Kidman owns that and brings the character out through those humiliating moments.

Lee Daniels is the man who screwed the project up. It was never destined to be a groundbreaking film, but Daniels holds it back from being at least decent as a movie. It becomes campy, has stereotypical racism, and messy scenes drowning in disarray. The narrative isn't strong enough to overcome Daniels's misdirection, even with the cast trying their best.

Rating: 4/10

Grade: C

Will Zac forever be remembered for his beach scene with Kidman?

[davidgee · 7/10 · 27 March 2013]

Zac Efron's 'coming-of-age'movie starts with a brutal killing, develops into a love-triangle-cum-family saga and then, like every other film set in the Everglades, explodes into an orgy of Gothic violence. There are some heavy borrowings here: themes from Erskine Caldwell and Tennessee Williams, the Cain-and-Abel brothers (not quite Biblical) from HUD, plus a large dose of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

Everyone plays it very straight but this overheated melodrama frequently teeters on the verge of farce. Kidman delivers her most feisty trailer- trash performance since her star-making role in TO DIE FOR. Zac Efron grows before our eyes from uber-cute teenager into mega-gorgeous hunk of manhood, a process Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise triumphantly went through some years back. Mae Clarke, a nearly forgotten actress from the 1930s, is largely remembered for having a grapefruit squashed in her face by James Cagney in a gangster flick. Zac Efron runs the risk that he will forever be remembered for being peed on by Nicole Kidman in THE PAPERBOY!

a dark and poisonous thriller

[thucy1 · 7/10 · 30 December 2012]

Wow. I was knocked down when I left the theatre. I didn't expect to see a so dark and poisonous thriller.

We see a sordid Florida and its racial and social prejudices, the atmosphere of the movie is as unhealthy as the life in the Everglades marshes. ! I have been particularly impressed by Nicole Kidman who dares to play a role totally opposed to her usual glamorous and clean image : she plays a vulgar and scatterbrained Barbie girl, but very naive and touching.

I saw the movie because of her and I was not disappointed.

But my god, this movie is so dark...

Well, that was terrible

[jsaus63304 · 3/10 · 18 December 2018]

With that cast, I expected to see at least a decent movie. Boy, was I wrong. This thing is a train wreck from start to finish. There is little character development. The plot is thin and disjointed. It jumps from scene to scene with little relationship. The actually story becomes less interesting as it progresses. By the end, I just did not care. Skip this one

"Lolita" in Reverse

[3xHCCH · 6/10 · 9 January 2013]

In one scene in "The Paperboy", the character of Zac Efron was reading "Lolita". Basically that scene acknowledges that this film was inspired by Nabokov classic somehow. However, the roles were reversed, as it was a young boy who was seduced by an older woman. And what an older woman! But I am getting ahead of myself.

"The Paperboy" may first interest you as a racy romance where young Jack Jansen (Zac Efron) falls hard for the charms of hot and slutty Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman). However, this scenario is injected into a murder mystery set in the marshy wilds of Florida involving a certain death row convict Hillary von Wetter (John Cusack). This setting may be offsetting for a lot of viewers as the visuals can become disgusting. A side plot of racial relations in the 1970s in there somewhere.

The actors all turn in very memorable performances in roles very much against their usual. Zac Efron was OK as the young impressionable lead character Jack, playing him with no hint of Troy Bolton. Well, except maybe in that scene where he was dancing with Nicole. Matthew McConaughey turns in a sympathetic portrayal of a tough journalist with a dark secret of his own. For a usually bland actor, McConaughey really gave several remarkable performances this year. I could never imagine all-American boy John Cusack as dirty and nasty, but he sure is here. He was a depraved monster in this film.

Of course, there is Nicole Kidman. This woman is really something else. You think you've seen everything from her, but then she gives us this one surprising turn. She is trashy, slutty, brash, everything we never thought she could be. Her scene on the beach where she was trying to pee on Zac Efron's jellyfish stings, or her scene in the prison where she was stimulating herself and the handcuffed John Cusack sitting across her were such memorabl brave scenes we never would have expected from her at this level of her career. An Oscar nomination is clearly in order here.

Director Lee Daniels (of "Precious") attempts too many things in this project that it never really gels. The parts are so disparate that it struggles to become one cohesive whole. The elements do not exactly fit in well with each other. This may be what Daniels is going for though - - to shock more than to entertain.

Good performances, terrible story.

[estebangonzalez10 · 3/10 · 15 February 2013]

¨He never did get over his first true love.¨

The Paperboy is an early contender for worse film of the year. This pulpy film noir thriller is so messy that it's hard to make sense of everything that is going on. The story is just horrible with characters that are too hard to identify with. I couldn't care less for what was going to happen to them because they were all dislikeable characters, and I really couldn't figure out why they wanted to help each other out or why they were even together in the first place. The Paperboy tries too hard to mix everything together: a pulpy film noir, with some racial drama, a detective story (that never even solves anything), several anti-romances, and some unfunny comedy. This is just one of those trashy films that succeed in making you feel dirty, but you don't get anything of real value out of it. I also hated the way that the film was narrated in some scenes trying to explain everything to the viewer like if we were stupid and needed everything pointed out at us (yes, we can all understand that Efron's character was in love with Nicole Kidman because of his abandonment issues with his mother, there was no need to tell us that through voice over). The other problem I had was that the film tried too hard to shock us through several unpleasant scenes, like the close up of the gator being gutted, and these gross out scenes didn't really connect with the movie. That is the reason why I felt this film wasn't cohesive and was too messy. It is a shame because I loved Lee Daniels's previous film Precious, but this is a huge step backwards from that movie.

The film was based on Peter Dexter's novel of the same name and it takes place in South Florida during the late 60's. The story centers around the life of a reporter named Ward (Matthew McConaughey) who decides to return to his hometown to investigate a case about an inmate on death row. Ward is trying to catch a big break on this story involving the murder of a local police officer and the conviction of the supposed murderer, Hilary Van Wetter (John Cusack). Apparently there were some irregularities in the trial and Ward has decided to investigate the case with his partner, Yardley (David Oyelowo). They heard about the story through Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) who happens to be sort of a death row groupie, who corresponds with these men through letters. She falls in love with Hilary and believes he is innocent, so she contacts Ward and Yardley and convinces them to chase this career making story. Together they work on the case in Ward's father's home where his younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron), still lives. Jack becomes the driver for the group taking them to the different locations they are investigating and immediately falls in love with Charlotte despite knowing she's attracted to the psychotic Hilary. The story is narrated by the house maid, Anita (Macy Gray).

The film does succeed in bringing the hot and steamy Florida weather on the screen and only watching the characters move make us feel hot and sweaty as well. This trashy film reminds us of some early 70's film noir movies with Nicole Kidman playing this sort of modern femme fatale character. Her gritty performance stands in deep contrast to Efron's sweet innocence. I had no problem with the cast. I thought they all gave strong performances, especially Nicole Kidman and John Cusack as these two sort of psychotic characters. I had never seen these actors in a role like this before. My major problem with the film was the messy story which ended up wandering all over the place and getting lost in the mix of everything. It is no wonder this film ended up getting booed at Cannes because it does fail to connect the major plot points. It was just a little too pulpy and steamy for my taste and it didn't work at all because I really disliked all these characters.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

Throw in the "The Paperboy" as another mediocre effort!

[meeza · 7/10 · 19 January 2013]

Does "The Paperboy" deliver greatness? Extra, extra! Read all about it! Or at least read my following little corny review on "The Paperboy". This is one of the strangest movies I have seen in a while, and to quote the great Jim Morrison "People are Strange" in this picture. It stars Zac Efron as Jack Jansen, a northern Florida young man who gets entangled in a bizarre situation. Jack's older brother Wade (played by Matthew McConaughey) is a New York reporter who travels back to his northern Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate called Hillary Van Wetter; and no, it is not a female porn star with a name like that. By the way, Van Wetter is played by John Cusack. Nicole Kidman co-stars as Charlotte Bess, a southern middle-aged floosy who is obsessed with Van Wetter. Even though she is a loose gal, you would think she could do better than Van Wetter! Couldn't do any worse! Charlotte teams up with Wade and his writing partner Yardley to help free Hillary by trying to find evidence to prove that Hillary did not commit the gruesome crime that lead to his death penalty conviction. Jack develops a mad cougar crush on Charlotte, so he joins in also in the journalistic investigation to help free Hilary, hence the title "The Paperboy". But what Jack really wants is for Charlotte to pull her trashy web on him. Director Lee Daniels has constructed an odd southern film which derails a bit too much with lewd narrative points throughout its development. Daniels' screenplay was a bit too outlandish for my taste, even though I admire his effort. McConaughey brought in another solid performance in his comeback year of 2012 as Wade. Kidman was outstanding as Charlotte, and was worthy of the Best Supporting Actress nominations it received from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. And this is the best work I have seen from Zac Efron with his effective performance as Jack. However, John Cusack was incarcerated with the acting crime of "over-the-top" shenanigans with his creepy effort as Hillary; and I am a huge Cusack fan. I was also enlightened with the impressive supportive effort from David Oyelowo as Yardley. "The Paperboy" was fair, but it does not deliver all the cinematic goods. So my tip for "The Paperboy" is to read it between-the-lines and maybe you will like it better than I did, or maybe you won't. Copy that! *** Average

Wasted 2 hours of my life

[Thatoneguyimet · 1/10 · 23 January 2013]

Great actors, horrible movie. The story was rambling, confused, and seemed to be dark just to be dark.

The narration was horrible; Macy Gray is incoherent throughout. I'm sure there was a reason to have a narrator, but the fact that she was completely unable to be understood kind of eliminates the benefit.

Characters were poorly developed and there was never any build up to explain their behavior.

The director seemed to be searching for ways to degrade every character over and over and over. This movie was disturbing without any redeeming quality at all.

Don't waste your time or your money.

Powerful film about love, honor, redemption, and connection

[karenaziz229 · 10/10 · 6 October 2012]

It's hard for me to understand the scorn that has been heaped upon this film. You'd think Lee Daniels had created a film praising Hitler, the Antichrist, and communism. Also, it's hard to understand why some critics have focused on certain aspects of the film. Zac Efron in his "tidy whities" or Nicole Kidman urinating on Mr. Efron. The level of titillation that is being shown would be credible in a 7-year old, but not for adult critics. To focus on these rather minor points shows a deep misunderstanding of what this film is about.

So, what is this film about? While I think it's hard to reduce a work of art to the level of a short essay, I am so fed up with what has been written about this film that I shall attempt to do so.

For starters, I believe this film reflects the world as it is, and not as we want it to be. I think this film is saying that our deepest need is for love, connection, and moral truth but these needs become warped when filtered through the lies,despair, and degradation that American society has offered up as the truth. Mainstream films never go here, and while some indie films touch on this theme, they don't usually go for as deep a dive. The only other director that I can think of even approaching this level of an unblinking stare into the abyss is Todd Soldendz.

The characters in the film consist of Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey), a journalist who has come back to his home town to investigate whether or not Hilary Van Wetter (John Cusack), a man on death row, received a fair trial. Ward's attention has been drawn to this case by Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman), a woman who has maintained a jail house correspondence with Mr. Van Wetter, and who believes she is in love with him. Ward brings with him a colleague, Yardley Acheman (David Oyewolo), a black journalist from London. They are assisted by Ward's younger brother, Jack Jansen (Zac Efron), who still lives at home. The Jansen family maid, Anita Chester (Macy Gray) is Jack's confidant and a stand in for the mother that left the family several years ago.

Each character's story is that of connection or love that has been twisted or thwarted for various reasons. Jack's playful relationship with the family maid can never be a relation between equals because of his racism. Jack can see that she is his natural ally and friend, but his racism denies them both a deeper connection. As brothers, Ward and Jack share a powerful bond of affection, but no amount of affection between the brothers can halt Ward's impulse to self-destruction brought on by his inability to accept being homosexual. Charlotte Bless is looking for love and thinks she can find it by writing to men in prison. She receives a response from Van Wetter, and because of its seeming indifference to what other men want from her, she decides this man loves her. The delusion is so powerful that even when real love is offered by Jack, she doesn't understand it. The film doesn't make it clear why she is so self-destructive. We can only assume it is the logical end to the toxic sexism that forces women to see themselves as worthy only if they are desired by a man; any man. Jack's impulse toward love and connection with this woman is driven by the damage done by the abandonment Jack experienced at the hands of his mother.Yardley is a black man trying to have a decent career as a journalist at a time (1969) when racism almost guaranteed that black men remain in lowly positions and did not allow them to rise to their full potential. It is this very racism that makes him betray his colleague and his principals and forces him to assume an identity other than his own. Van Wetter is, I think, a kind of stand in for a force of nature. It is when you face up to these kind of forces that your innermost strengths and weaknesses are revealed.

Through these characters, Lee Daniels is showing the damage done to human relations, forcing people to act in ways that are not pretty to watch, and so the world he shows us is not pretty. It's hard and brutal. But so are the forces that drive these characters. To the critics who hated this film, if you want pretty, watch Lucy and Desi. Mr. Daniels world is the real world; flawed, messy, and hard to look at, but with humanity and the impulse to transcendence at its core.

The Paperboy

[lasttimeisaw · 6/10 · 24 January 2013]

Three years after his Oscar-nominated dark horse Precious (2009, 8/10), Lee Daniels doesn't rest on its laurels and presents us his third feature THE PAPERBOY, an appallingly unsympathetic story (adapted from Peter Dexter's novel) replete with dislikable characters, this is a fare for hardcore fans only, the rejection from the mass is a big blow to Daniels and an ultra-dazzling cast, only Nicole Kidman gains some salve from her hard champion in the awards season.

The sultry southern air, luscious bodies (Zac Efron in shorts, hey, he is a retired swimmer! Nicole in a low-end prostitute costume with a blonde wig), seedy swamp (with dead alligators), all emerge preponderantly in Daniels' late 60s' retrospective camera shots steeped in a pervasive amber hue, it is a hormone-driven experience with censor-sensitive fodder like Oedipus Complex, graphic sex scenes, interracial gay s&m, cut-throat violence and notoriously a no-contact masturbation titillation (between Nicole and a heinous John Cusack), plus a Nicole-pissing-all-over-Zac eyeball-luring hyperbole. However, if we leave these egregiously upsetting ingredients aside, one may find the story itself is horrendously wanting its narrative gravity, the titular focal figure is Zac, the paperboy, an adolescent boy falls for a surrogate mother figure (maybe two, if counting Macy Gray's black nanny) both sexually and mentally, the boy's coming-of-age thread occupies a major portion of the film, and shamefully, which is also the most tacky or tedious part, the young Efron has clearly been eager to expand his acting bent, but the chemistry with Nicole Kidman can never stay under the spotlight. Daniels also stumbles in his sex-exploitation with Tinseltown's big names, therefore, a murder case investigation about a grisly killer, the oppressive gay milieu (David Oyelowo's character is the underdeveloped foil) and the racial tension are all being sidestepped into an inferior ranking. There are more to be told in the vast swamp, Lee Daniels only opts for an easy way out.

Nicole Kidman steals the limelight with her dishy body and discounted sexiness, her character is loathsome and pitiful altogether, very showy but divisive like the film per se. Matthew McConaughey had a great year in 2012 (but I bet 2013 is even better), his fatalist self-abuse is both wretched and horrific; John Cusack has never been so petrifying before, maybe not even worth the effort for the flat part. As for Zac Efron, the role could be an offbeat one among his repertoire, but it doesn't mean it should be printed in his name card.

A career lapse is inevitable for almost all the directors, Lee Daniels is still a director to watch for, hopefully his next project THE BUTLER (2013) will speak for itself.

Really a waste of almost two hours

[lynneyvonn · 1/10 · 4 October 2014]

I found this to be virtually pornographic (and gratuitously so) and the gore factor was over the top. It's shocking that so many stars like Kiddman and McConauaghay and Daniels were involved in this project. Truly disgusting, and incredibly disturbing as well. I watched this after watching "The Butler" and was shocked that Daniels could have put his efforts in to this awful project. The film had no socially redeeming qualities in that it didn't reflect anything about a historical event (for which sex and violence can play a dramatic role). It was simply "Shock Schlock".

The graphic and gratuitous nature of all of the sexual scenes was incredibly disturbing, as was the bloody violence throughout the film. It should not have received a rating of R. I question whether it should have even received a rating of NC17.

I would encourage everyone NOT to watch this film.