KILLER JOE
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple
Directed by William Friedkin
The fact that William Friedkin director of The Exorcist has heralded Killer Joe as his most disturbing film hints at the deranged, lurid depths plumbed by this backwater noir. However, that bold proclamation fails to convey the delirious comedy that arises when hopeless hicks cut a deal with a different breed of devil. In the capable hands of Friedkin and screenwriter Tracy Letts (adapting his play), sadism can occasionally be as sidesplitting as it is sickening.
Arriving at the doublewide doorstep of his dad, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) suggests that they kill his mother and collect on her meagre $50,000 life insurance policy. Recognizing that theyre too stupid to plot a murder, they hire on Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey), a cop whos not so much crooked as distorted, offering him Chris loopy sister Dottie (Juno Temple) as a retainer.
Your eyes hurt, Dottie astutely notes of Joe. The riveting McConaughey takes this characteristic and runs with it. And while his withering stare incapacitates anyone in its path, it also betrays the torment churning inside of him. In turn, the rules that Joe institutes are intended to both simplify his dealings with dimwits and keep himself in check.
Consequently, as the Smiths insist on testing Joes patience and principles, the proceedings are suffused with an intoxicating tension. And only during an over-the-top climax do they (and the audience) come to realize precisely what theyve welcomed into their trailer and invited upon themselves. Staggering from the theatre, you might just find yourself thinking that Regan got off easy in The Exorcist.
