The Paperboy (2012)

46% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
97% want to see it
(341 ratings)

A man (John Cusack) convicted of killing a seedy sheriff is given a new life when a female pen pal (Nicole Kidman) enlists the aid of two journalists to try and get him off death row. Precious' Lee Daniels adapts Pete Dexter's novel. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Lee Daniels
Written By: Peter Dexter
Genres: Drama

Studio: Millennium Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Jon Frosch, The Atlantic
Lurid, touching, and not quite like anything I've ever seen.
Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine
All the actors rise or bend to the challenge, giving juicy performances and seemingly having a fine old time.
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter
This is a tale of murder, idealistic journalism, warped sexual desires, a slipshod legal system and inbred backwater types hostile to outsiders.
Simon Gallagher, Film School Rejects
Despite some fine performances, The Paperboy is a tale of a director getting in the way of fine source material with an artistic agenda that is muddled and inarticulate.
Scott Tobias, AV Club
The most repugnant and inept movie to be inexplicably treated like high art since...whaddaya know, since Precious (Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire), the last film directed by Lee Daniels.
Gail Tolley, The List
Despite its plot holes The Paperboy is a surprisingly involving film with solid performances from its cast and a remarkable performance from Nicole Kidman that will have you questioning if it is really her under that blonde wig.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
'The Paperboy' just feels inept - with the odd, fun moment of bite-your-tongue high camp emerging from the chaos.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Narratively shapeless, Daniels follow-up to Precious is part murder mystery, part interracial melodrama, part siblings tale, part coming of age, and mostly star vehicle for Zac Efron in white underwear
Mike Goodridge, Screen International
It's a film of vivid colours, steamy atmosphere and sexual desire rather than tight plotting, but no less entertaining for that.
Xan Brooks, Guardian [UK]
Lee Daniels does not so much direct as distract, grabbing hold of Pete Dexter's splendidly lean and lethal source novel and gorging it on so much junk-food that the plot plays out as a series of cardiac arrests
James Rocchi, The Playlist
A lurid, florid, humid, flaccid and insipid waste of time and money for the audience and for everyone who made it.
Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
It feels like clips from around 20 other films, none of them good, sandwiched back to back, and the talented cast can only grit their teeth.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
This gripping, scary and queasily funny picture nurtures a dark threat which lurks like one of its gators just below the surface.