Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate.
The Paperboy is a lurid, swampy Southern noir with a committed cast (particularly Nicole Kidman and John Cusack in wild, against-type performances) but the plot meanders and never quite coheres into a satisfying mystery. The 1960s Florida setting offers some visual texture, and Lee Daniels' deliberately trashy aesthetic gives it a distinctive pulpy flavor, but the ending deflates rather than delivers on the film's provocative promise.