The Paperboy is going to shock even if you think you’re prepared.

Based on a novel by Pete Dexter, the story revolves around the murder of a corrupt sheriff.  We’re in the steamy bayou’s of South Florida, it’s 1969 and the heat feels oppressive.  An objectionable low-life called Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) is in prison for the murder, but he might have been framed, we’re never quite sure.  An investigative reporter called Ward (Matthew McConaughey) and his black partner with a cultured English accent, Yardley (David Oyelow) try to get to the bottom of the story.  With the help of Ward’s brother (Zac Efron) and a death-row groupie (Nicole Kidman) who Yardley describes as a “Nasty little nut job,” the four attempt to prove Hillary’s innocence.

The story is framed around the narration of Macy Gray who plays Anita, the black hired help.  At the beginning of the film, Anita is being interviewed some time after all the dealings of the story have concluded.  She adjusts her curly, black wig and asks her interviewer, “Am I getting paid for this?”  What follows is Anita’s story, or at least the events as seen through her eyes, but there comes a point where you wonder just who exactly is she talking to?  When we see a certain love making sequence that might go too far, her voice-over suddenly states, “I think y’all have seen enough,” and the scene fades away.  Is she talking to us, the movie audience, or is she still talking to the interviewer?

The film’s one saving grace are the performances, particularly Nicole Kidman as Charlotte who is a standout.  The Australian actor delivers such an authentically convincing performance of an American southern woman so noxious you can practically smell her tastelessness oozing off the screen. Looking back over some of the notes I scribbled during the screening, the one positive remark was that if anyone was going to see The Paperboy, then they should see it for the right reason; to savor Nicole Kidman’s funny and thoroughly convincing portrayal of a vulnerable woman who hasn’t a clue.

There’s a perverse nature to The Paperboy that’s unsettling for several reasons. First, despite the first class on-screen talent, it’s no fun watching these trashy characters act and talk to each other in the trashy way they do, even if their portrayals are accurate. Director Lee Daniels, who did such a great job with 2008’s Precious, appears to be working under the illusion that he’s making art when in fact what he’s made is an unsavory mess. 

There’s a murder towards the end of the film that when it comes you may feel as though by now you’ve seen enough.  “Too much,” someone in the theatre behind me murmured. I know exactly what he meant.

 MPAA Rating:  R   Length:  106 minutes    Overall Rating:  3 (out of 10)