Review of The Paperboy (2012) by Aaron S — 18 Oct 2012

After a dark and twisted turn as a bounty hunter in Killer Joe, this is a more safe role for Matthew McConaughey. Here he plays a reporter who returns home to his little Florida town to look into the murder conviction of a man on death row.

Paperboy attempts to be a suspenseful story, that's all it is though an attempt. Sure it had some moments but not many. There's a blend of humour in the movie that I feel was unintentional, or if it was intentional then it's ridiculous.

Bright spots in the film are the occasional tense scenes, most of these happen towards the end of the film, but they're there. John Cusack is another bright spot playing the convicted killer. With Cusack I find he's a hit or miss, this time was a hit.

Zac Efron to an extent was another bright spot. I think he has it in him to become a so called "adult actor" and he'll get there eventually; but I'm not sure this movie helped. He has a couple of very moving scenes where you see the potential to break his heartthrob image but it gets lost as throughout most of the movie he's walking around in underwear or short shorts, which seems a step backwards in his career and he again becomes eye candy.