Review of The Paperboy (2012) by Edwin H — 15 Oct 2012

Florida Noir is a genre I like a lot. Perhaps because the combination of heat, swamps and scantily clad women are so distant from Seattle I get my fix through movies about crime in the everglades. The Paperboy is a good movie but is confusing and with too many little subplots that are not all that relevant.

The film plays in the late 60's when sex was loose, racism was more direct and everyone seemed to dress like a pimp. In this case, two journalists and an oversexualized woman are trying to prove the innocence of a man who allegedly kills a local racist sheriff. There is also a man-boy who is arguably the star of the film who's the brother of one of the reporters and will act as their driver. He lives at home with his parents and seems to be in his underwear all day. He has a somewhat brotherly and platonic relationship with his black housekeeper who also narrates the story.

The plot is twisted and confusing, I suspect deliberately. It has plenty of violence and shows a side of America that the Republican Party doesn't seem to think exists. There is so much poverty, backwardness and filth that you wouldn't know this was in the US of A.

Certainly a decent movie albeit it's confusing nature and inconclusive finale, which seems to be more by accident than by design.