Those BUG boys are at it again. Billie and Tracie have come up with another plan to adapt a play filled with delirium, alcohol, and severe amounts of violence and nudity. The boss hogs at the MPAA weren't happy with those troublemakers, so they slapped the cuffs down hard on them with a NC-17 rating. After several months pretending to be good little boys, they gave those blowhards the slip, surrendering the rating and running wild in any theaters that will accept them.
KILLER JOE is an extra crispy, Southern fried neo-noir that has more grease than meat. You sit through this William Friedkin-directed film with deliberately unlikable dumb characters and have no care for their lives. There is hardly any chance to relish the insanity, due to the slow decompressed storytelling by playwright Tracy Letts. When you are thankfully given the opportunity to do so, all bottled up in an overflowing climax, the rug is pulled and you are ordered to move on with your life.
Lifetime screw-up Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) heads to a trailer park to propose a deal to his slow-witted father (Thomas Haden Church). He was just kicked out of his mother's place after kicking her ass following revelations that she took some of his loaned-out drug supply. He needs to pay back his dealer or enjoy kissing six feet of dirt. Chris wants to hire noted dirty cop/hitman on the side Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to murder mom and collect her life insurance. When Joe's asking price and negotiations with the two lunkheads go awry, the swaggering but proper Southern gentleman counter-proposes to have Chris' messed up sister Dottie (Juno Temple) serve as a retainer until the money comes through.
The only reason to go out of your way to see this film is certainly McConaughey. He bares all, figuratively and literally, as he makes the character a whooping sensation to behold. Compared to the rest of the idiots he has to work with, all of whom are too stupid to notice they are stuck in a Billy Wilder plot, his devilish assassin/emotional manipulator is interesting and has depth. Despite being the titled character and the lead, however, McConaguhey often sits on the sidelines for more scenes of the dysfunctional redneck family. As specified earlier, there is no urge to cheer these losers on or see them succeed, despite the efforts of the actors. Once they begin to receive some harsh punishments for their crimes, the audience is treated to a mighty climax, with McConaughey menacing the hell of the peons. Without spoiling too much, let's just say that the Colonel's delicious fried chicken will never look the same. This tour-de-force gets bigger and crazier, then immediately brakes hard and stops.
That's it. Music and credits hit with a resounding thud. An odd but deliberately provoking ending, I was frankly fine with it but it sure did hellishly pissed off the other viewers, who practically laid Bigfoot-sized prints into the recently soda-soaked rug as they stormed off, returning to their life in the urban wilderness. As I walked outside my local art theater, I looked to the side and grinned from ear to ear. I completely forgot that a badly managed, obnoxiously orange KFC was next door.
FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5
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