#thepaperboy

The Paperboy is a strange film. Nearly all of its characters are unlikeable and the plot leaves you feeling like you're coated in a thin layer of slime. It’s not a movie you'll enjoy watching, but that’s kind of the point. It’s one of these southern gothic films that gathers the ugliest people you could imagine and shows how they all deserve each other.

Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack, as a grease stain no one would ever miss) has been convicted of murdering a corrupt sheriff and awaits his death sentence. Idealistic reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey), his younger brother Jack (Zac Efron), and friend Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) are investigating the farce of a trial. Convinced of Hillary's innocence is Charlotte (Nicole Kidman, brilliant), who has fallen in love with him through mail correspondence.

Even the most likable characters (probably Ward and his brother) are profoundly troubled men doomed to remain in this filthy swamp town where you can't trust anyone to do the right thing. Ward hopes to exonerate a man who is probably innocent, but you get the feeling he's actually in it for the story, for himself. One look at Hillary and you know even if he didn’t kill that sheriff, he's guilty of something else. Was he framed? Maybe. Does that mean he didn't do it? Maybe.

The film is tense and fills you with fear and unease. I’m not one to blame victims for their misfortunes, but in this case, bad things happen to these people and they deserve it. If you write letters to accused murderers and fool yourself into falling in love and become convinced of their innocence, your only hope is to become a cautionary tale for others. There's no escape for anyone in this story, not unless they climb on someone else's shoulders. In time, you drop any anger you might've had even when people make criminal decisions. When they do, it’s because they’ve finally realized only desperate gambits could pull them out of the slow, nasty death that awaits them in this place. You become just as corrupt as them.

I applaud The Paperboy for having the guts to present these seedy, lustful, and unpleasant characters honestly. It makes the story unpredictable and captivating. When you have a pure, heroic hero fighting against a diabolical villain you know the princess isn’t going to end up making the wrong decision by siding with the dark sorcerer. When the hero is weak, the woman easily swayed by power, and the villain is only slightly grimmer than the knight, things get interesting. You know a happy ending is unlikely. How bad is it going to get?

The Paperboy is a lot of things. Dark and oozing with realistic, human evil; filled with unpredictable, frighteningly genuine characters that make bad decisions; unpleasant to watch because it hits the mark so well. The performances are strong and the writing great. What it isn’t is the type of movie you would buy and pop in willy-nilly to have a good time. You have to be in a particular mood to enjoy this film. It’s the kind of great movie that is going to make people uncomfortable, but that’s what it wants to do. If you can take it, see it. (On DVD, July 13, 2015)

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