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Parents' Guide to

The Paperboy

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Lurid, depraved, messy crime story with lots of sex.

Movie R 2012 107 minutes
The Paperboy Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 18+

Based on 5 parent reviews

age 18+

A bit of a violent mess except for Kidman's strong portrayal

This film starts off with a lot of promise then it feels that it runs out of time in order to properly edit the film...of course I think it was done like this on purpose. However, the seemingly incongruent cuts lead to a film that feels slap dash and rushed. The change in tempo and in curve balls it throws at you are also not earned and that contributes to this feeling of hurry and unreadiness. Kidman saves it...per the usual. Everyone is trying on a jacket that doesn't fit, but she knocks it out of the park, but that is the character she is portraying.
age 18+

Didnt Know

Waaaaay to raucous, explicit and sexually charged. It's actually disgusting.

This title has:

Too much sex

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5 ):
Kids say (3 ):

One of this film's big mistakes is the casting of Efron, who may be easy on the eyes but has barely any personality; whenever he's on-screen, which is most of the movie, the scenes deflate. He can't sustain any dramatic tension with his co-stars. Otherwise, Daniels' uneven, lopsided narrative goes too far in spots and not nearly far enough in others. He fails to generate any suspense, and, despite all of the movie's sex, fails to titillate. The only thing The Paperboy does manage is a general sense of unpleasantness.

Decades ago, there was a subgenre of drive-in and exploitation movies about a frightening class of horrible people who lived in swamps. The Paperboy could have been one of these, except that it doesn't feel like anyone is having much fun. His last time out, director Lee Daniels earned an Oscar nomination for Precious, and it looks like he's throwing in everything (kitchen sink included) into THE PAPERBOY to prove that he can do it again. (Unfortunately, he can't.)

Movie Details

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