NZIFF 2012 Review: ‘Killer Joe’

It’s odd that a film with not a single redeeming character should be so watchable. Yet Killer Joe is a fun, barmy ride.

Chris is in trouble. His mother stole his last two grams of cocaine before he could sell it, and now a man named Trigger wants his money. The rest of Chris’s family – dopey, drunk Ansel and sex-on-legs step-mom, Sharla – can’t help. But Chris knows his mother has a $50K life insurance policy, and the beneficiary is his little sister Dottie.

So Ansel and Chris call upon the services of Joe, a Dallas police force detective who supplements his income with contract killing on the side. But Joe wants a $25K payment upfront and Chris and Ansel won’t have any cash until after the insurance policy is cashed. It seems like the situation is hopeless until Joe catches a glimpse of Dottie and suggests she’d do as a retainer.

From here things get a little twisted and sordid. The most uncomfortable scene is the one where Chris and Ansel set up a date for Dottie and Joe. Earlier in the film Chris expressed concern for Dottie because Sharla parades around the house butt-naked, yet he seems to have no qualms about setting her up with a man many years her senior (apparently Dottie is 20, but her sweet naivety makes her seem a lot younger…). The climactic scene includes a vomit-inducing use of KFC that will no doubt have Colonel Sanders spinning in his grave.

Matthew McConaughy gives what is probably his best performance to date as Joe, a cold-hearted killer with the manners and decorum of a true southern gentleman. While I think the Coen brothers have covered the bumbling crime caper far better, I enjoyed Killer Joe. It made me uncomfortable and it made me laugh and it made me cringe and cover my eyes.

7/10