Movie · 2012 · Thriller, Drama, Mystery · 1h 47m · R · English
Curator score: 0.6/10 (42.4K ratings)
Overview
A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.6/10
IMDb: 5.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 45%
Metacritic: 45
TMDB: 5.5/10
Director
Lee Daniels
Production
Lee Daniels Entertainment, Nu Image, Millennium Media
Cast
Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo, Macy Gray, John Cusack, Scott Glenn, Ned Bellamy, Nealla Gordon, Edrick Browne, Kevin Waterman, Danny Hanemann, Peter Murnik, John P. Fertitta, Gary Clarke, Ava Bogle, Adam Sibley, J.D. Evermore, Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, Nicole Barré
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A sweaty, lurid Southern gothic melodrama that swings hard for camp, provocation, and emotional messiness. It’s divisive by design: some viewers will find it overcooked and tonally chaotic, while others will enjoy the feverish performances, swampy atmosphere, and trashy-noir energy.
Best for
Viewers who like Southern gothic crime stories
Fans of campy, overheated melodrama
People open to abrasive, unglamorous performances
Audiences who enjoy sleazy neo-noir texture and mood over plot neatness
Skip if
You want a clean, tightly plotted mystery
You dislike sexual provocation and grotesque tonal shifts
You prefer restrained realism
You’re turned off by camp that feels intentionally messy
Overview
The Paperboy is all humidity, bad judgment, and emotional bruises. Lee Daniels pushes the material into a fever dream of swamp noir, where every performance feels slightly unhinged and every scene seems to sweat through the screen. That makes it fascinating even when it’s frustrating: the movie is less interested in solving its mystery than in wallowing in desire, shame, and rot.
Worth noting
The cast commits to the bit, especially in the film’s more outrageous and unflattering turns. The result is a movie that can feel both ridiculous and strangely alive, with a pulpy, exploitative energy that never quite settles into a single mode. If you like your crime dramas messy, lurid, and emotionally volatile, there’s real value here.
Bottom line
At the same time, the film’s excess can be alienating. Its shocks don’t always land with the intended force, and its tonal lurches may read as self-parody or incoherence depending on your tolerance for chaos. But for viewers who appreciate a bold swing, this is a memorable failure-or-success hybrid: ugly, strange, and hard to forget.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Matt Singer (1★) · 579 likes
Worst video game adaptation ever.
russman (2★) · 301 likes
Not about that rapper from Atlanta
single white femalien (3★) · 239 likes
this is good because nicole kidman fights off a bunch of hot girls that want to pee on zefrons face, so she can pee on zefrons face
also i was describing this movie to my friend and i told her john cusack killed someone and she thought i meant john cusack for real killed someone, which isnt impossible because lots of celebs have manslaughtered people on accident. can someone find me a good clickbait listicle of top 10 celeb killers please, i cant do it myself i dont know how internet works
also macy gray?
also john cusack is gross
Matt Singer (1★) · 197 likes
Public masturbation. Jellyfish attacks. Bad accents. Zac Efron. Flop sweat. Macy Gray. Aligator intestines. Swamp people. John Cusack with Nicolas Cage hair. The line "If anyone's gonna piss on him, it's gonna be me! He don't like strangers peeing on him!"
It should be trashy fun. It's not, and to be honest, on first viewing I'm not entirely sure where it went wrong. But I hated it too much to care to watch again and figure it out.
Great soundtrack, though.
Matt Erspamer (2.5★) · 187 likes
will never forget when I saw this at Cannes and half the audience gave it a standing ovation and the other half booed very loudly. feels right
1998 · Crime, Drama, Thriller · 2h 1m · R · Curator 8.0/10 (147.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A morally collapsing crime story where greed and panic steadily poison everything.