The Paperboy - A Review

Lee Daniels, director of the lauded and Academy Award nominated Precious, brings to the screen an adaptation of Pete Dexter's 1995 novel, a neo noir novel about murder and lust in a florida swamp during the mid 20th century. The film stars Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConauhey and John Cusack, and had its premier at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 16 minute standing ovation.

The film tells us the story of a man wrongly accused of murder, the journalists who attempt to find out the truth, and the woman who write to the man in prison, and who has fallen in love with him. The film uses a handheld camera style, which i will admit annoyed me a little less than it did in A Place Beyond The Pines, perhaps the camera doesn't shake quite as much! The film uses bright, lurid colors, which add to the films sense of heightened reality, and retrospective narrative.

The film also attempts to add a civil rights movement inspired subplot, this succeeds better than the other parts of the movie, and the addition of the narration by the maid of the family gives the film a personal touch. The other parts of the film are significantly less successful, Nicole Kidman is refreshing in her role as the oversexed barbie Charlotte, a middle class white woman with a penchant for bad men. She lights up every scene she is in, and manages to steal the film with her neurotic performance, that said many of the scenes in which she is not are more than a little dull.

This film contains many sexual moments that will make one cringe, and believe me the infamous peeing scene (done for real by the way) is believe me not the worst, whether these scenes were meant to make the audience uncomfortable is anyone's guess, the worst offender is really the scene in which Charlotte visits John Cusacks character in prison is more than a little odd, despite good performances, and leaves the audience vaguely laughing in shock.

The film seems to me to be a mess, to be honest, the material seems to be poorly handled, however the addition of a civil rights subplot featuring a sure performance by Macy Gray and Nicole Kidman's standout performance as Charlotte make this film worth a watch. However the numerous awkward vaguely erotic sex scenes, and Zac Efron's seemingly random appearances nearly always in his underwear, make this film too random yet not camp enough to cross over into cult territory, yet manages to be supremely entertaining thanks in part to the performances of John Cusack, Macy Gray and the always ravishing Nicole Kidman Rating: B

Charlotte Bless: If anyone's gonna piss on him, it's going to be me. He don't like strangers peeing on him.