Killer Joe (2012)

William Friedkin has made some interesting movies. What else are you supposed to say about the guy who made "The Exorcist?" That's his best known film apart from "The French Connection," but there's also movies like "Jade" and "Bug," which have what can only be called "That Friedkin Sleaze." They may not always be pleasant, but they're always interesting. In a way he reminds me a little bit of Stanley Kubrick, even though they have very different styles. But like Kubrick, even if the end product isn't easily digestible or even what one might even call "good," I for one am always at least glad I saw it, because I can usually safely say "Well THAT was a thing."

"Killer Joe" is indeed "a thing." It's certainly a film that you don't come across often, because few films contain the insanity or sleaze that it contains, of which it has in spades. If sleaze and a good deal of outright wrongness does not appeal to you than "Killer Joe" will not be a pleasant movie-going experience. Well, even if it does appeal to you it might not be pleasant, but you know what I mean. What I'm saying is that if you're going to watch this movie, unless you go into it expecting and being okay with seeing a bunch of depraved stuff that you may find yourself saying "I need an adult" over, this won't be fun.

Well, it still might not be "fun" but...you know what I mean!

Killer Joe is the name of our...well I can't really call him protagonist, because he's more of an antagonist in actuality. At least he becomes one by the end. Then again everyone in this movie is such a low-life that it's difficult to apply the label "Good guy" and "Bad guy" to anyone. This is only skimming the top of the moral ambiguity of "Killer Joe," as there is no black or white in terms of good vs. bad. There are only many, many different places to stand between the two colors. Everyone here is essentially a scumbag, but few are outright evil about it, which actually makes it far more realistic.

Anyway, Killer Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a cop who moonlights as a hitman. He is hired by Chris (Emile Hirsch), a catastrophic loser who specializes in bad decisions and making things worse, to kill Chris' mother. He's doing this so that his sister Dottie (Juno Temple) can collect on her $50,000 life insurance policy and go to school, and so that he can pay off the drug dealers he owes a lot of money. And while it's obviously a horrible thing to put a hit on one's own mother, they make it clear that this women is absolutely terrible, everyone hates her, and she even tried to kill Dottie once when she was a child. In fact, everyone is on board with this plan - even her ex-husband Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), Ansel's current wife Sharla (Gina Gershon) and even Dottie herself. So there you go. A family of people who want their own mother/ex-wife dead.

Your heroes!

From there it becomes a story of "from bad to worse" and things spiral further and further out of control. Poor decisions are made, certain people turn out to not be very trustworthy (shock!) and insurance plans are misinterpreted by stupid people who didn't read the fine print. Or read it at all. But through it all, one thing remains constant: Killer Joe needs to get paid one way or the other.

In lieu of up-front payment, which Chris can't provide, Joe decides to take Dottie as a retainer until he gets his money. You can imagine that the reasons for him taking on a young, pretty "retainer" involve just as much depravity as you think it does. And yes, the suspicions you have about what Joe is thinking when he stares at Dottie like he's got X-ray glasses are spot on. It's exactly like that. This is the beginning of the wrongness of this movie, as I'm pretty sure she's at best 17. At best. And he's obviously in his mid-30's. At least. At least that's what I got. And even if she were actually older, mentally Dottie isn't all there, and seems closer to someone who is 12 or 13. Yeah, gross.

So yeah. That's the setup. Chris tells Joe "You can have my sister as long as you kill my mother."

Your heroes!

The things about "Killer Joe" that may make you want to stick with it through the depravity are the performances, because they are undeniably fantastic. Emile Hirsch manages to actually be not soul-punchingly annoying for a change, despite playing arguably the most despicable character in the film, and yes that's including Joe. With Joe, yes it's true that's he's a killer and a total psychopathic scumbag, but at least he's smart. Chris is an absolute moron who rightly gets played over and over again by people who have no business getting the upper hand over anybody. So yes, Chris is a moron and a total slimeball, but Emile Hirsch played him so that you didn't necessarily hate him completely. You also feel really sorry for him. That's tough to do.

Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon were also fantastic. Gershon took a while to grow on me as a character, which she certainly did by the end, but Church's Ansel was great right from the get-go. He kind of lumbers through the movie like a deep-fried, inbred Lurch from the Addam's Family. Coincidentally he also provides most of the laughs, although some of those may have been unintentional.

If this isn't a breakout role for Juno Temple, it will be a crime. An absolute crime. After this she needs to be a known actress. I'm talking big roles in A list blockbusters. Yeah, she had a small part in "The Dark Knight Rises" as Selena's partner in crime, but that was small potatoes. Although she is starring in "Maleficent," which is "Sleeping Beauty" told from the villain's point of view, which might be interesting. But for all that is good in the world, somebody please give Aronofsky her number.

Think I've got another favorite to add to the list...

As good as everyone was, though, the guy who unsurprisingly steals the show is Matty McC. I love McConaughey. I have for a long time. This guy is an incredible actor and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to see "Killer Joe." He is so sleazy, so creepy, so evil, and so completely wrong while somehow, somehow still being charming as hell, even though you know none of it is genuine. It's really a marvel to see. And this is a movie where McConaughey makes Gina Gershon perform fellatio on a chicken drumstick after punching her in the face and threatening to kill all of them. And he STILL manages to be likable.

Did I mention this movie is kind of messed up?

Yeah, that's the final thing about "Killer Joe." You gotta be okay with some pretty depraved stuff. You also have to be okay with a movie where nobody is really a villain, because nobody is really a good guy. When everyone you see is kind of insane, it's hard to get a measuring stick for sanity, you know? And while it may be troubling and upsetting, it's difficult to deny that "Killer Joe" is very interesting and impossible to take your eyes off of.

The only big complaint I have is the ending, which literally seems like it stops about 15 seconds before the actual end. I get the jarring effect of it, and I appreciate a challenging ending that requires you to think, but sometimes it seems that endings like that exist just because that's the way weird movies end. And it's doubly annoying because the movie is going 150 mph when it hits a wall that says "DIRECTED BY WILLIAM FRIEDKIN." It's one of the more significant "Oh come on!" moments I've had with a movie this year. Although if I'm yelling that because I was enjoying it and wanted to see more, there are worse problems I can imagine for a movie.

Now who wants some chicken? No, I'm serious guys. There is chicken-leg fellatio in this movie. That is now a thing that exists.

You'll never eat fried chicken again without thinking of "Killer Joe." This may ruin it for you forever.

THE BOTTOM LINE - I really liked "Killer Joe," even though I hesitate to assume others would as well. It's a weird movie. It's a movie that contains a vast amount of wrong. And you have to be cool with that. Honestly though, I'd give this a watch, if for nothing else the incredible performances all around.