{"id":2588,"date":"2012-08-17T04:58:58","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T11:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=2588"},"modified":"2012-08-17T04:58:59","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T11:58:59","slug":"review-killer-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=2588","title":{"rendered":"Review: KILLER JOE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>William Friedkin directed \u201cThe Exorcist\u201d and \u201cThe French Connection\u201d two of most celebrated films of the 1970s. I especially liked his movie \u201cSorcerer\u201d and in the 1980s his gritty \u201cTo Live and Die in LA\u201d was one of my favorites. Fans of \u201cTo Live and Die\u201d and that well-staged car chase with the jack-knifed tractor trailer should really go back and check out \u201cThe French Connection\u201d because the car chase in that film (stunts done by the famous Bill Hickman) was partially shot by Friedkin himself from inside the car. William Friedkin is quite an interesting director and now even in his 70s, his work continues to sizzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiller Joe,\u201d the adaptation of the Tracy Letts stage play, is another fine example of the master\u2019s work. While not as action packed as \u201cThe French Connection,\u201d it smartly relies on character to hold audience interest. And along side of tense action set-pieces, finding strong characters is a hallmark of Friedkin\u2019s work. The movie stars Matthew McConaughey as the title character, Killer Joe Cooper, a Texas lawman who moonlights as a contract killer. Continuing McConaughey\u2019s successful resurgence, that for me began last year with his fine work in \u201cThe Lincoln Lawyer,\u201d \u201cJoe\u201d is a film that contains better performances than its low rent and vulgar subject matter.<\/p>\n

This is a movie that literally wallows in its base and crude story making you itch and run for the shower after exiting the theater. The story is about the Smith family led by drunken and clueless patriarch Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) and his son Chris (Emile Hirsch) and his simpleton daughter Dottie (Juno Temple). When Chris gets word that his mother has taken out a $50 thousand life insurance policy, he decides that she is worth much more to the family dead than alive. And before you think, \u201cwow, life is cheap in Texas,\u201d you have to meet the Smith family. They live in a trailer and drive cars that aren\u2019t worth rolling up the window in the pouring rain. Everything is cheap in their hard scrabble existence.<\/p>\n

When Chris and Ansel hire Joe to do the deed, he requires a down-payment. They don\u2019t have any money, but trade Dottie to Joe temporarily until the life insurance pays off. You already know that this isn\u2019t going to end well. But you have to hand it to uncompromising writer Letts and veteran Friedkin, whose steady directing hand raises the profile of this southern pot boiler. Both the script and the direction perfectly capture the grimy story elements right down to the dirt in every nook and cranny. And the performances are just peerless especially McConaughey who makes memorable use of a KFC chicken leg. And that is one scene that will stay with you. At a dinner party over cocktails, you\u2019ll want to let people know that you\u2019ve seen what McConaughey does to Gina Gershon. It might be worth the price of admission if you know what you\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n

After seeing McConaughey\u2019s characterizations in \u201cLincoln Lawyer,\u201d \u201cMagic Mike,\u201d and now \u201cKiller Joe,\u201d I can\u2019t wait to see what he does next. And with the small and memorable success of this film, William Friedkin adds another interesting film to his classic collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out Jonathan’s review of William Friedkin’s vulgar KILLER JOE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2588"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2593,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions\/2593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}