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Friday, October 5, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW
The Paperboy
 Trashing Down The 1960s In Lee Daniels' South

Nicole Kidman as Charlotte Bless in Lee Daniels' 1960s drama "The Paperboy".  D Films Corp
    
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Friday, October 5, 2012
Lee Daniels' drama "The Paperboy" swims around in the swamps of the Deep South in the 1960s as it tells the story of Hilary Van Wedder (John Cusack), a man on death row in Florida for the murder of a much-despised sheriff.  An investigative journalist Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and a Miami Herald reporter/writer Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) team up to explore the possibility of Hilary's innocence.

Narrated by the charismatic Anita (Macy Gray), a black maid in the Jansen household, "The Paperboy", written by Mr. Daniels and Pete Dexter, and adapted from Mr. Dexter's novel, begins to tell two small intimate stories: one of the investigation and its twists and turns, the other of the triangle of sexual dynamics between Ward's younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) and Charlotte (Nicole Kidman), Hilary's girlfriend. 

The problem with Mr. Daniels' film is that it is continuously sidetracked by the sensational and garroted by the gratuitous.  There's nothing wrong with showing any of what you see in "The Paperboy" -- graphic violence, urination or orgasmic ecstasy -- it's just that the copious helpings of the lurid and titillating obstruct the story Mr. Daniels attempts to tell.  Consequently, "The Paperboy", which had the potential to be an engrossing, atmospheric noir-like thriller instead reeks of trash, pulp and ultimately self-indulgent theater.  I found the film to be hollow, even unfinished, to a degree.

Mr. Daniels, who produced "Monster's Ball" and has directed such films as "Shadowboxer", "Precious" and next year's "The Butler", has a flair for the provocative and prurient.  In "Shadowboxer" he exploded a romance between characters played by Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr. and drenched it in blood.  In "Precious" the focus was the wretchedness of poverty and abuse, which sometimes felt glamorized and overly theatrical.  Mr. Daniels however, hasn't shown that he can carry an effective story through from start to finish without resorting to the excessive window dressing that collapses his films.  There's a lack of structure to "The Paperboy", causing the film to drift and meander.  The film never finds itself and by extension has no center or core to solidify or fortify itself on.

Admittedly it's a guilty pleasure to see Ms. Kidman go out on a campy limb with such a distinctly stereotyped Southern bombshell character, and Mr. Cusack play an empty, dull, ridiculous swamp thing-like creature whose base impulses aren't restrained.  Mr. McConaughey, in the weakest performance of his great 2012 onscreen year, plays every bit Mr. Cusack's equal as a sleazy, sweaty character with skeletons in his closet.  When characters' peccadilloes are revealed they emerge suddenly the point of being a complete divorce from the characters themselves. 

"The Paperboy", which showcases the emergence of masks pulled off, wallows in the mire so much that you forget the title figure of the film, played by Mr. Efron, who's even less effective here than he was in "The Lucky One" earlier this year.  Mr. Efron is offered up by Mr. Daniels as an adolescent Calvin Klein underwear model, writhing around in nothing but tight white underwear in the rain.  You sense that Mr. Daniels had a lot more fun directing scenes that bring the actors out of character as opposed to in character than he did helming an overall story.  I believe Mr. Daniels is more than capable of developing a mature, non-distracting vision; he has yet to show it. 

Also with: Scott Glenn, Ned Bellamy, Nealla Gordon.

"The Paperboy" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for strong sexual content, violence and language.  The film's running time is one hour and 47 minutes.      

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