With all the talk of this being too, violent, too crude and too violent, I thought maybe I was in for a treat, but not really. Now everyone in this does their level best. Despite the terrible script everyone performs their part as well as possible. That the piece remains unsatisfactory is because, seemingly, Lee Daniels is no great shakes at the directing job. For every good thing that Nicole Kidman does there is a bad edit or nonsense cut to take away any impact that might have been achieved. It is as if the director is aware of the possibility of creating devastating sequences but breaks it all up to avoid that very event. Full of good moments and potentially great moments, this is all over the place and in the end the only thing vaguely of interest is the director's gaze upon Zac Efron. Why have all that great b/w opening and then forget about it and wallow in some kid's fantasy life with his maid or his subsequent ridiculous longing for the older Kidman character, even if she is rather fetchingly trashed up?
Review of The Paperboy
