Unusual pacing & tone, really just another Mconaughey-type Noir thriller that allows him to do what he does. He’s really not the main character, Zac Efron is, and Zach does a nice job using his attractive aesthetics & personality to bring his character to life. The real star is Nicole Kidman, in a role idt i have seen her in before. She is the straw that stirs the drink, and she excels. I have no idea why this is rated so low, other than that it is somewhat work to keep the characters & their relation to each other straight. This is not a sit and watch with no mental work on viewers behalf movie.

This movie is about how trauma from a parent leads to danger seeking activity and I think it’s a masterpiece. A desire for rebirth is a big theme: the jellyfish scene is not supposed to be sexy, it’s a symbolic birth reflecting the younger brother’s desire for parenting and hatred of himself for not having it, which leads him to ignore how dangerous Charlotte is. Ward, who is so locked in his need to oppose his distant, ultra-conservative father that he unleashes the ultimate danger in Hillary, also has a failed rebirth. Naked and curled on the toilet, he attempts and fails to analyze why he’s driven to harm, which is shown by his eye injury and patch. Everything is deliberate - even trips to the swamp are timed with the brothers’ attempts to visit their own inner motivations, reflected by the nude, pregnant mother and gutted animals. Nicole Kidman is amazing as Charlotte Bless. I’d say this movie is an incredible example of ‘show don’t tell’ so you do have to put effort into analyzing it.

The Paperboy is a story I never expected to watch or go down, but I definitely paid attention the entire time. I don't know why it kept me so interested, but seeing McConaughey and Efron play these roles was very interesting. The film captures the racial tension and many of the political dispositions of the time well. The dynamic between Efron and their maid is heart warming at times, leaving plenty of room for character growth. I didn't know how to feel about this movie immediately but I did enjoy it a good bit. I don't know if I'd watch it again, but I was pleasantly surprised and shocked as it ended too.

The acting was good, but the movie was trashy, shockingly violent, disturbing, and seedy. This was a mix between Cape Fear and Jerry Springer. Nicole Kidman was great, but she tends to take a lot of these really weird, abusive, sexually violent and disturbing roles, and it makes me wonder why. I always question when an actor takes the same types of roles over and over. Matthew McConaughey was Matthew, Zac Efron was Zac Efron. John Cusack was believably disgusting. Macy Gray was Macy Gray. This movie was horribly violent and dark. Not my cup of tea. But it was definitely attention-keeping.

The acting is great, and the mix of the old 60’s-style filmmaking technique is a very nice touch and is expertly done. Interesting story and location - It’s one of those movies I rewatch every few years.

Were this movie a body, it would have COPD. The scenes are claustrophobic; a yard is the size of a kiddie pool, an office the size of a desk, a bedroom the size of a bed, a bar the size of a dining room… When the hammer comes down – believe me it will – the anxiety of not being able to breathe becomes palpable. Even the dream sequences and the surreal “vivid thought projections?” are tightly bound – it feels like a knife fight in a phone booth. There are old lady characters in Fellini’s 8 ½ who seem to float onto the screen in such intimate detail you swear you can smell their perfume. In this case I can feel the bad vibrations in my bones – believe Kidman's Bless when she tells you vibrations can travel.

Sordid. Extreme stupidity of Nicole’s character. Extreme violence through out. I can never watch John Cusack again in any of his films. Remember how Robert Downey Jr. told Ben Stiller’s character in the film Tropic Thunder that you never go full #### (word formerly used for mentally disabled people). Well John went Full Psycho “un-alive” and it turned me off entirely to see him again.

It as shocking all the way through. It left me with a bad feeling. Old movie but I had never heard of it. Strong cast.

It does kind of plod, and it’s definitely off the rails, but there are only so many people who can truly pull off this kind of story. I don’t think that without this cast, this movie would’ve had a shot in hell. And the South can be Hell.

I loved the story telling/narration. I probably would have given this a crap rating had the ending not completely shocked me to my core. It's not the best movie I have ever seen but I didn't want to stop watching till it was over

Such an all star cast for such a bad movie.

It's hard to like this movie. Great cast and performances, you can clearly see the novel it was based on. Atmospheric, bleak, and violent, it's a book I would never read. No Hollywood ending here.

Film che prende quasi da subito la stessa fisionomia dei suoi personaggi; inquieti, indecifrabili e anche piuttosto fastidiosi. Nessuno pensa e agisce con la dovuta normalità, seppure il contesto non sia così fuori dagli schemi. Qualche scena decisamente ad altissimo impatto visivo cerca di disturbare maggiormente lo spettatore, finendo comunque per essere esageratamente spinta e cruenta. Nessun personaggio ha uno sviluppo positivo, tutti quelli elaborati si fanno trascinare nello stesso vortice di scelte sbagliate; e i comprimari vengono totalmente ignorati nell'ultima parte del film. La scelta è sembrata quella di cercare di conquistare con scene spinte e volgari, crude e cruente; scelta sbagliata.

Mildly interesting but not exactly what was expected, I was expecting the tale of a demented and deranged paperboy. With a competent and star studded cast it still fails to rise above that cast and mere competency.

More twists and turns than a roller coaster! Its bizarre and sexy and interesting the whole way through! Mathew McConaughey John Cusack Nicole Kidman Zach Efron Macy Gray! It's a must see for the cast alone. You will see these actors like you have never seen them before so do not miss this one!!!

Probably Nicole kidmans best acting performance

This film has such an old school look and feel that I just can't help to appreciate the style. The acting is solid for the most part and the story is very much straight forward, but I wish their was a little bit more meat to the story.

If you want proof that actors are whores who will do anything in front of a camera, no matter how distasteful, for the right paycheck, this is it. Virtually all the characters are despicable. The thin plot, which involves a Miami newspaper reporter coming to a small Florida town to investigate the imprisonment of a man who he believes is innocent of murdering a racist sheriff, is merely a convenient framework for all kinds of gratuitous sex and violence---including a scene of Nicole Kidman urinating on a young man and engaging in mutual masturbation with John Cusack. There's more, which I won't bother describing. All of this perversion is presented for no reason other than to shock and titillate the viewers. Period. Remember the old 1950's definition of obscenity, "No socially redeeming value"? Well, here you go. Some critics have praised this film for dealing with issues of racism and homosexuality. Baloney. All of that is just veneer. This film addresses nothing but human depravity. A truly rotten film.

This was a coarse, raw, and edgy movie. It wasn't afraid to o take risk. It new the chords to strike without it feeling cliched of gratuitous

This movie was so strange.