In one scene in "The Paperboy", the character of Zac Efron was reading "Lolita". Basically that scene acknowledges that this film was inspired by Nabokov classic somehow. However, the roles were reversed, as it was a young boy who was seduced by an older woman. And what an older woman! But I am getting ahead of myself.
"The Paperboy" may first interest you as a racy romance where young Jack Jansen (Zac Efron) falls hard for the charms of hot and slutty Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman). However, this scenario is injected into a murder mystery set in the marshy wilds of Florida involving a certain death row convict Hillary von Wetter (John Cusack). This setting may be offsetting for a lot of viewers as the visuals can become disgusting. A side plot of racial relations in the 1970s in there somewhere.
The actors all turn in very memorable performances in roles very much against their usual. Zac Efron was OK as the young impressionable lead character Jack, playing him with no hint of Troy Bolton. Well, except maybe in that scene where he was dancing with Nicole. Matthew McConaughey turns in a sympathetic portrayal of a tough journalist with a dark secret of his own. For a usually bland actor, McConaughey really gave several remarkable performances this year. I could never imagine all-American boy John Cusack as dirty and nasty, but he sure is here. He was a depraved monster in this film.
Of course, there is Nicole Kidman. This woman is really something else. You think you've seen everything from her, but then she gives us this one surprising turn. She is trashy, slutty, brash, everything we never thought she could be. Her scene on the beach where she was trying to pee on Zac Efron's jellyfish stings, or her scene in the prison where she was stimulating herself and the handcuffed John Cusack sitting across her were such memorabl brave scenes we never would have expected from her at this level of her career. An Oscar nomination is clearly in order here.
Director Lee Daniels (of "Precious") attempts too many things in this project that it never really gels. The parts are so disparate that it struggles to become one cohesive whole. The elements do not exactly fit in well with each other. This may be what Daniels is going for though - - to shock more than to entertain.
"The Paperboy" may first interest you as a racy romance where young Jack Jansen (Zac Efron) falls hard for the charms of hot and slutty Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman). However, this scenario is injected into a murder mystery set in the marshy wilds of Florida involving a certain death row convict Hillary von Wetter (John Cusack). This setting may be offsetting for a lot of viewers as the visuals can become disgusting. A side plot of racial relations in the 1970s in there somewhere.
The actors all turn in very memorable performances in roles very much against their usual. Zac Efron was OK as the young impressionable lead character Jack, playing him with no hint of Troy Bolton. Well, except maybe in that scene where he was dancing with Nicole. Matthew McConaughey turns in a sympathetic portrayal of a tough journalist with a dark secret of his own. For a usually bland actor, McConaughey really gave several remarkable performances this year. I could never imagine all-American boy John Cusack as dirty and nasty, but he sure is here. He was a depraved monster in this film.
Of course, there is Nicole Kidman. This woman is really something else. You think you've seen everything from her, but then she gives us this one surprising turn. She is trashy, slutty, brash, everything we never thought she could be. Her scene on the beach where she was trying to pee on Zac Efron's jellyfish stings, or her scene in the prison where she was stimulating herself and the handcuffed John Cusack sitting across her were such memorabl brave scenes we never would have expected from her at this level of her career. An Oscar nomination is clearly in order here.
Director Lee Daniels (of "Precious") attempts too many things in this project that it never really gels. The parts are so disparate that it struggles to become one cohesive whole. The elements do not exactly fit in well with each other. This may be what Daniels is going for though - - to shock more than to entertain.