Review of The Paperboy (2012) by Mike C — 27 Feb 2013

How does a movie with so many stars fail? Not sure this movie fails totally, but I'm not sure it has a real point, either. Kinda disappointing in that regard. Nicole Kidman, at 45, is hotter than hell in this. Efron, I think, is pretty decent (remember, DiCaprio was once little more than meat for the young female audience). McConaughey falls a little flatter than I expect of him, and Cusack is odd but effective. How does it fail!? Lack of story.

I guess there is a story: Kidman's character goes after jailhouse love. McConaughey is a writer looking to set free an innocent man. Kidman helps him and his writing partner, and Efron is the younger brother of the writer who falls in love with Kidman. That is sufficient story right there. And it's definitely sufficiently gritty and dysfunctional. I guess I was just looking for more. It's a pretty straight story. And I, who hates twists and all that crap, am complaining about a lack of something that made the movie pop.