The Paperboy

It shows how terrible people can be. The actors are awesome.

When `The Paperboy' showed at Cannes last year there was a lot of hoopla about how bad it was. I mean, it was trashed for being trashy and basically considered one of the worst films in recent memory. A lot of hype was brought to the table before it showed (Lee Daniels followup to his Oscar vehicle `Precious') and even afterward (Nicole Kidman pees on Zac Efron) and basically what was considered total trash became one of those movies that everyone HAD TO SEE, even though they were pretty much guaranteed that they would hate it.I didn't hate this.I want to start by saying that this movie is really very bad. Nothing about it works separately and yet together it all works in this `so bad I can't help but be entertained by it' kind of way. The accent work is awful (Efron can't hold an accent and McConaughey doesn't even try), the basic storyline is a confused mess (I've never seen a film that tried so hard to shove so much into one narrative) and the direction is a shoddy mess. Still, I can't say that I hated this because despite the fact that it shouldn't work, it kind of does.The basic plot follows a young paperboy named Jack living in Florida during the 60's. His brother Ward is a journalist for a newspaper trying to dig up evidence to prove the innocence of a man named Hillary Van Wetter, who is on death row for killing a sheriff. While in prison, Hillary started writing back and forth with Charlotte Bless, a simple minded southern tramp who has a thing for criminals. She's convinced he's innocent (for strange reasons) and she tries to help Ward prove that. In the meantime, young Jack is falling in love with Charlotte. She represents everything he's lost over the years and in her he finds some sort of solace.`The Paperboy' becomes messy because it can never establish a clear focal point. At the core of the film is supposedly this murder case, and yet there really seems to be no interest in it at all. It becomes background fodder for the love triangle forming between Hillary, Charlotte and Jack and yet, even at that Hillary becomes this side point with no real depth and so it becomes the Jack and Charlotte show. Still, there is no real character development between them and their relationship seems like a gimmick more than anything else; simply a springboard for bizarre behavior and scenes of awkwardly stylized thoughts. Then you have Ward and his partner Yardley and the underdeveloped semblance of the Jensen parents (father and step mother) and their housekeeper Anita, who appears to have a real impact on Jack and yet feels like more of a symbol than an actual character. Yardley is treated like a villain and never really given depth and Ward's decline is supposed to have some significance and yet it is entirely wrapped up in the murder case, which by about thirty minutes in we've already forgotten all about. With all the themes here none of them come to completion and so it is basically about a lot of things and nothing all at the same time.Lee Daniels once again proves to be the worst thing about his films (he misdirected `Precious' and really was in no way shape or form the reason for its success).The acting here is spotty. Matthew McConaughey plays himself once again and John Cusack really needs a shower. I used to think he was a good actor, but he tries WAY TOO HARD here. Zac Efron does nothing of merit outside of botch an accent. Kidman, Gray and Oyelowo are best in show for varying reasons (and none is without detractors either). Oyelowo has a very underdeveloped character and yet he tries to insert a backstory and manages to do that to a certain degree. Gray is the heart of the story (she narrates) and she does keep it together for the most part. She doesn't really have a character and yet she manages to be a life-force, so for that she should be singled out. Kidman got the bulk of the attention (good and bad) for her fearless portrayal of a woman gone crazy. Her sexualized meeting with Hillary was ridiculous and incredible at the same time. She is polarizing because so much of what she does is SO EXTREME and yet in the context of this crazy film it almost works SO WELL.At the end of the day, this film is really, truly bad. It is bad because Lee Daniels has no idea how to tell a story. He has so many ideas and `cool tricks' that he thinks he's saying more than he is or showing us more than he is and yet at the end of the day his films say so much less than they should because he lacks focus and his `style' sacrifices `substance' and winds up creating an empty feeling in the pit of his films. Still, the gritty 80's style porno screen shots make this interesting and the wildly uneven trashiness make `The Paperboy' nothing less than entertaining.

After hanging on for a tad over 90 minutes, I was just shaking my head trying to understand if I actually liked this movie or am I some kind of misanthropic voyeur. Surprisingly, a fine cast of A-Listers pull no punches in this steamy portrayal of redneck racism, sex and violence.Set in swampy Florida of the 1960's, a well renowned Miami newspaper reporter returns to the small town where he grew up to look into the case against a convicted killer sitting on death row. Ward (Matthew McConaughey) is the son of the local newspaper publisher (Scott Glenn) and brother of Jack (Zac Efron). Accompanying Ward is a black-but-British-so-it's-OK writing partner (David Oyelowo). One of the conflicts in Hillary Van Wetter's (John Cusack) conviction is that a cousin did not testify that Hillary was with him stealing sod from the golf course when the murder was committed.In the mix is a sordid woman (Nicole Kidman) who wants to have celebrity sex with Hillary. The only way Hillary will talk to the newspaper men is if they bring Charlotte (Kidman) to prison with them. Prison rules forbid any touching. In their first meeting, Charlotte as instructed by Hillary, spreads her legs and opens her mouth while Hillary...well, you get the picture. All while Ward and Yardley look on. Jack, who acts as a driver for the crew has a big time crush on Charlotte... and yes they do.Directed by Lee Daniels ("Precious"), this isn't a pretty picture. It is full of unlikable people who do unlikeable things, but damn if I wasn't a bit locked in. The film is twisted, trashy but has just enough film-noir style for me to like it.

The basic premise of this movie is that a woman, Nicole Kidman, who has fallen in love with a prisoner, John Cusack, has enlisted the aid of a couple of reporters to help her clear her sweetheart's name because he was wrongly convicted. Then, she can get him out of prison so that they can get married. This all takes place in Florida in the 1960's. Matthew McConaughey plays the reporter who returns to his backwater home town with his "colleague" an African American journalist. Zack Efron plays the younger brother of the reporter. The story takes all sorts of twists and turns to get anywhere and when things finally do start happening, I found myself just sort of sitting and scratching my head thinking, "What is going on?" I will say that Nicole Kidman does a superb acting job here. She plays a trailer park trashy blonde bombshell sex pot and does it very convincingly. John Cusack, who plays the ruthless convict, also surprised me. The roles for both these actors was such a departure from the types of characters they usually play and yet both made it seem effortless. Macy Gray plays the part of the family's maid and was a surprisingly good actress as well. I think there were just too many stories going on here so there's never one clear direction so despite some outstanding acting, the film overall just doesn't hold together. There was also, in my opinion, too much unnecessarily graphic sexuality including a masturbation scene from Nicole Kidman that could almost qualify as soft porn. That was just another jarring note that didn't seem to fit into the fabric of the story for me. I can't say I enthusiastically recommend it as a great movie but it is at least interesting for the most part. It is almost worth the cost of the rental just to see the performance of Nicole Kidman. She's kind of been off the radar for the past few years (or been wasting her time in things like Bewitched) and I had forgotten how mesmerizing an actress she can be.

“There is nothing sweet and lovely about “The Paperboy” the profanity is rampant, it’s sexually explicit,the setting is in the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, dingy and nasty, the swamp will make you cringe,all the actors are sweltering in sweat, that’s dripping from their faces, watching this movie on a couch is nota good idea, you need a hot-tub, believe me it will work, I don’t think for all the movies I’ve been watching,never seen anything so real in my life, the things that “Nicole Kidman” went through for this role,had to be the most humiliating thing to her loyal fans, even if she had a double to play some of the parts,we know her for this role, her name is on the movie credits, but the most inhospitable person you would want to meet,is “John Cusack” what a presence of a vile man you'd ever want to meet, and he played it So Well, I wanted to hurt himso bad, actually all of them, this is why I can say it’s so Real and Authentic, if you love animals, the scene with the Croc,you better fast-forward, and I love animals, I blink once, you are warned,investigative reporter Ward Jansen (McConaughey) and his partner Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo “Jack Reacher”)trying for his first career-making story, when one of the Sheriff was killed, death-row groupie Charlotte bless (Kidman)pairs together and tries to prove violent swamp-dweller Hillary Van Wetter (Cusack) was framed for the murder,even the names for these so called characters are weird, the Sexual Content is very Graphic in this movie,even though, i still love it,English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.Widescreen 2.35:1Runtime 113 Min.”Outrageous Is Absolutely Not The Word For This..

An interesting film that plays in the 60's South Florida. It has a lot sexually charged moments, but that is it, nothing truly show body parts wise. I guess Nicole Kidman refused to show her goodies. I liked her role who actually regrets her choice towards the end of the film. Not quite 5 starts, but a solid 4 1/2! Enjoy!

OOOF! For the outstanding performance of Zac Efron that is more and more doinggreat perfomances...Also, Matthew McCaunaghy is giving a great performance in that special caracter.Nice interacial interactions being held in 1969 around.Post Martin Luther King and human rights in USA.Great decor of Louisiana and the style of the people houses at that period too...

I am a big fan of Nicole Kidman. Shall we say this is a somewhat different role for her? Great movie.Reg

Nicole Kidman's best acting.