Having a blast in heart of darkness
By Christy Lemire |
August 12, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MATTHEW McConaughey has enjoyed a bit of a reinvention over the past year or so, casting aside eager-to-please roles in forgettable romantic comedies for dark, serious work.
This began with 2011's "The Lincoln Lawyer," in which he played a sleazy lawyer who finds his swagger may not help him get out of every jam. It continued with supporting roles as a slick district attorney in "Bernie" and as a stripper-turned-nightclub owner hungry for money and fame in "Magic Mike."
But McConaughey's evolution reaches a crescendo in "Killer Joe," in which he plays the title character: a meticulously smooth Dallas police detective with a side business as a hit man.
McConaughey hasn't changed all that much. All these performances call upon him to play on his persona, to work that seductive charm with his sexy smile and Texas twang, but now he's doing it for dubious, if not deadly purposes.
Joe is the frightening figure at the center of William Friedkin's pulpy Southwestern noir, full of drug dealers and trailer parks, diner tips and tuna casseroles. This is the second time the veteran director of "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection" has adapted a play from Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts; their first collaboration was 2007's "Bug," about a couple who hide in a motel and feed on each other's paranoia, with Letts adapting the screenplay both times.
Whereas "Bug" was ridiculous and didn't know it, "Killer Joe" is ridiculous and absolutely wallows in it. It revels in its low-rent digs and low-life criminals. These characters are types, people at the fringes of society who are screwed up beyond redemption, but the actors are clearly having a blast slumming.
"Killer Joe" is graphic and squirm-inducing, especially at its climax, but while it may sound crass to enjoy on-screen violence at a time like this, the movie can be hilarious and unexpectedly fun.
It'll set you on edge from the beginning. Chris (Emile Hirsch), a drug dealer, owes his boss US$6,000 when his mother steals his stash. He goes to his beer-drinking, auto mechanic father, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), who's divorced from his mom, to set a plan in motion: They'll have her killed and collect on her US$50,000 life insurance policy.
Killer Joe is the man for the job. Trouble is, he wants the money in advance. They don't have the cash - but they have something else Joe might want: Chris's teenage sister, Dottie (Juno Temple). Dottie becomes sexual collateral of sorts, which oddly she doesn't seem to mind.
There are no lessons here, there's no hidden message. Friedkin has given us the kind of stylized, violent genre exercise of a man who knows his craft and doesn't care what anyone thinks.
Like a deep-fried Twinkie at the State Fair of Texas, "Killer Joe" is gooey, flavorful and bad for you. Dig in.
This began with 2011's "The Lincoln Lawyer," in which he played a sleazy lawyer who finds his swagger may not help him get out of every jam. It continued with supporting roles as a slick district attorney in "Bernie" and as a stripper-turned-nightclub owner hungry for money and fame in "Magic Mike."
But McConaughey's evolution reaches a crescendo in "Killer Joe," in which he plays the title character: a meticulously smooth Dallas police detective with a side business as a hit man.
McConaughey hasn't changed all that much. All these performances call upon him to play on his persona, to work that seductive charm with his sexy smile and Texas twang, but now he's doing it for dubious, if not deadly purposes.
Joe is the frightening figure at the center of William Friedkin's pulpy Southwestern noir, full of drug dealers and trailer parks, diner tips and tuna casseroles. This is the second time the veteran director of "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection" has adapted a play from Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts; their first collaboration was 2007's "Bug," about a couple who hide in a motel and feed on each other's paranoia, with Letts adapting the screenplay both times.
Whereas "Bug" was ridiculous and didn't know it, "Killer Joe" is ridiculous and absolutely wallows in it. It revels in its low-rent digs and low-life criminals. These characters are types, people at the fringes of society who are screwed up beyond redemption, but the actors are clearly having a blast slumming.
"Killer Joe" is graphic and squirm-inducing, especially at its climax, but while it may sound crass to enjoy on-screen violence at a time like this, the movie can be hilarious and unexpectedly fun.
It'll set you on edge from the beginning. Chris (Emile Hirsch), a drug dealer, owes his boss US$6,000 when his mother steals his stash. He goes to his beer-drinking, auto mechanic father, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), who's divorced from his mom, to set a plan in motion: They'll have her killed and collect on her US$50,000 life insurance policy.
Killer Joe is the man for the job. Trouble is, he wants the money in advance. They don't have the cash - but they have something else Joe might want: Chris's teenage sister, Dottie (Juno Temple). Dottie becomes sexual collateral of sorts, which oddly she doesn't seem to mind.
There are no lessons here, there's no hidden message. Friedkin has given us the kind of stylized, violent genre exercise of a man who knows his craft and doesn't care what anyone thinks.
Like a deep-fried Twinkie at the State Fair of Texas, "Killer Joe" is gooey, flavorful and bad for you. Dig in.
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