The words “florid” and “inert” are not quite antonyms, but it would nonetheless seem impossible for those two adjectives to apply to the same thing. And yet here comes The Paperboy, a swamp noir so spectacularly incompetent that even the ripest pulp attractions are left to rot in the sun, flies buzzing lazily around them.
Among the eyebrow-raisers: a scene between a prisoner and his would-be girlfriend that turns into an open-air, autoerotic conjugal visit; a rape sequence featuring random cutaways to dead swamp animals; and, most notoriously, Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron because he’s been stung by a jellyfish. All three are far more shocking in description.
Based on a 1995 novel by Pete Dexter (Paris Trout), who also co-scripted, The Paperboy is co-written and directed by Lee Daniels, whose equally risible Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire) revealed the same tendency to marry rank exploitation with moral high-handedness. Where Precious was partially redeemed by its galvanizing performances — namely, the then-unknown, now-beloved Gabourey Sidibe and Oscar-winner Mo’Nique — the marquee names in Daniels’ new film are as misdirected as the rest of it, pressed into sweaty caricatures of Deep South types. It’s as if they’re all competing for a “Most Actor” Oscar.
Set in the summer of ’69 — and needlessly freighted with the social significance of the times — The Paperboy follows an investigation into the murder of a racist small-town Florida sheriff. Matthew McConaughey, the cast member who looks most at home in this setting, stars as Ward Jansen, a Miami reporter who wants to do a piece on Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), the nasty swamp-dwelling creature convicted of the crime. Dragging along his brother Jack (Efron) and an African-American colleague (David Oyelowo), Ward comes to believe that Hillary, foul as he undoubtedly is, may be an innocent man.