

Review: Killer Joe


Emile Hirsch plays Chris, a drug dealer whose plan to get out of debt is having his mother killed and collecting the insurance money. Chris’ hires a cop/hitman named Joe (Matthew McConaughey) to pull of the hit. Since Chris and his family don’t have the money, Joe takes Chris’ sister Dottie (Juno Smith) as collateral until payment can be made.

Sounds like your typical hitman-for-hire movie, right? Not according to the NC-17 rating.

Killer Joe does its best to push the envelope from beginning to end. The film opens with Gina Gershon answering the door pantsless. There’s two head bashing fight scenes, a shot of McConaughey’s rear, even more violence, a “love scene” between McConaughey and Smith that borders on sexual abuse, and of course there’s the much talked about finale that involves the inappropriate use of a piece of chicken that I’m sure Colonel Sanders would not approve of.

What the film doesn’t push is character development. Killer Joe bounces from absurd moment to absurd moment without a second to have any empathy for the characters grow.

Overshadowed by the chicken scene and the NC-17 rating is the film’s incredible depiction of a dysfunctional family, the manipulation that exists , as well as McConaughey’s haunting portrayal of the creepy hitman Killer Joe. It’s going to be tough to look at McConaughey the same. Really tough.

Between the great character introductions and its head spinning ending, Killer Joe’s only other accomplishment is making you feel trapped in the trailer park hoping you can escape – and not in a good way.


Killer Joe opens Friday 8/17 at Landmark Harvard Exit

Tim Hall