The Paperboy

In his first turn directing since Precious, Lee Daniels delivers an underwhelming and overwrought drama in The Paperboy. Daniels’ plot meanders about in Florida during the hot summer of 1969. Jack (Zac Efron), sexually frustrated and uncertain of his future, watches as his older brother Ward (Matthew McConaughey) attempts to set the wrongly accused Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) free. During this time, Jack falls for Wetter’s nymphomaniac fiance, Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman). After abandoning the initial injustice plot at the film’s halfway point, The Paperboy continues to go downhill despite solid performances from the principle cast. Daniels favors gritty, rough around the edges cinematography rather than a developing an actual storyline.