Killer Joe

I’ve never been a major or even minor fan of Mathew McConaughey. Neither of his face nor his acting. He has always struck me as a descendant of Skeletor or some other skull-faced bother…typecast into pretty boy roles in romantic comedies for The New Dumb to laugh at and smile at his curls, now and then he attempts to branch out. He was worth a chuckle in Tropic Thunder, although most of those smirks were run-off from the real stars of the show, Down Syndrome Junior and Ben Stillborn…I did enjoy Lincoln Lawyer and A Time To Kill, both of which make me feel suddenly as if I have been somewhat unkind, for now I am pondering more deeply, his career hasn’t been one of total failure, just regular failure…There was also the eerie and at times gripping Frailty. Killer Joe is one of these efforts to step away from the profitable How to Lose a Guy, Ghost Of Girlfriends Past, Failure to Launch bullshit…and whilst it has its shock value, its unfortunately more Miserable Miss than Hit, with its one saving grace the suggestion of potential.Old Skull-face plays a cop/assassin for hire who gets caught up in a trailer park trash insurance which goes terribly wrong. Its a novel idea of sorts, but as mean and brutal as McConaughey certainly portrays his character, Joe Cooper (whose name always sounded when spoken like ‘joe creeper’), as intriguing as the angel with a dirty face flirts with becoming, the plot is far from thrilling, the acting is rarely anything but one dimensional, and without the ‘suck my chicken drum stick’ scene, not much would be memorable, for the right or wrong reasons.

If you fancy seeing old skull face break a woman’s nose then threaten to cut off her face, this film may well be for you…for everyone else, I suggest you find more fruitful use of the 90 minutes Killer Joe will steal from your life.