The Paperboy (2012)

Waste of time

Please don't spend money on this.

hyped garbage

Excellent, smart action film.

Once I adjusted to Macy Gray's accent/dialect (whatever the PC term is for anything these days), I couldn't stop watching or listening. Yes, the people in the movie have thick deep-south accents; please get the New England Patriots fans some smelling salts for their shock. I've been a Nicole Kidman fan my entire life, and this movie had me lusting after any other possible indie appearance she's ever made. Yes, she plays a dirty bad girl, & John Cusack plays a dirty bad boy; please get all the Grey's Anatomy fans & Kardashian fans a box of tissues for their grief. The twists with the characters Ward & Yardley toward the end are priceless. If you can't hack it, it's OK, just go see another Kong/Godzilla/Marvel movie & call it brilliant & go to Starbucks after.

This is a terrible movie. It is amazing that the big-name stars in this movie signed on for this piece of garbage. Technically, Nicole Kidman did a good job of playing her character, but it is all for nothing. Garbage script in, garbage movie out. Don't waste your time on this one. I regret having to give one star when it deserves zero.

I don't really even know what the movie was fully about after watching it, I guess the story of Cusack's character and the murders...? I knew nothing about this movie, and vaguely remember seeing some poster with multiple big name actors and I swore one of them was Brad Pitt, so when I started this movie I thought it was a Pitt movie...Well, I was surprised by who was in it, and pleasantly so as each new character was introduced. I like M'Con, I find he does have a place in Hollywood movies. As I've mentioned before I am a fan of Cusack, so it was a surprise when his creepy prisoner character showed up.There are several weird and kind of disturbing parts in this movie. The scene with Cusack and Kidman in the prison was just gross, but apparently it was arousing to old M'Con's character. It felt like it was trying to hard to be dark, and the narration from a mush mouthed and incoherent (literally) Macy Gray was very annoying. I had to strain to understand what she was saying, because she doesn't seem to pronounce her words very well. She acted fairly well in this movie, it's just she was hard to understand. The Paperboy had some strange moments with Cusack in the swamp, and Zac Efron saying the N word, it really wasn't that good. The actors in this movie are all quite good, it's just the poor story and narration that makes this movie a fail. From what others have said repeated viewings help to improve the murkiness of the story and things you may have missed become clearer. I may give this one another shot another time, but for now it stands as a weird one for me. 5/10

One of the few stand out films of recent years. Certainly, for observation it is of the highest order. The performances are faultless, the camera work outstanding. It is troubling, bleak, cynical, and also, seemingly, very, very real. I have never lived in 60s deep south but for a short time I believe I was there. The sexual sub plots are a seedy, dispassionate, but gripping and essential, backdrop to the actual story - racial, class and cultural chasms held loosely together in a bitter, sweaty, Louisiana type soup. The caring black servant as narrator works really well, the depiction of the main character, naively intelligent, unlikely and involuntary hero, has a warmth and honesty that contrasts well with the films themes, it also provides just enough solid ground to withstand the unfolding plot, and the ending. Grabs you and whirls you through a time and place like no other film I've seen. A brave film to make and deserves high praise.