Mini-Review: The Paperboy

Lee Daniels sure likes the trashy and the grotesque. I can do trashy, and about halfway through the film I though it was gonna work. But it somehow shifted sideways, pieces stop connecting, and instead of fun trashy it became disturbing trashy. The movie does capture that certain angle of Florida life which exists nowhere else. I also thought some of the performances and relationships were compelling, especially between Zac Efron and Macy Gray's characters. But as the movie comes to its violent, startling, and not quite developed conclusion, you begin to realize that none of this really adds up to anything. I'm happy to be shocked if its funny or there's a point. But the moments never add up, and the result is pulpy but empty.