Killer Joe: Unrated Director's Cut

By: Robert O'Neill
In-House Review - Dec 27 2012

There is no gay content in Killer Joe, but Matthew McConaughey (never shy) offers up even more skin than he did playing a stripper in Magic Mike or a closeted reporter seeking rough trade in The Paperboy (he was pretty busy in 2012). There is a scene midway through the movie where he gives us a long, lingering glimpse of his rock-hard backside.

On top of that, Killer Joe is a must-see for fans of films that push the envelope. Based on the first work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts, the film follows a white trash father and son team (Emile Hirsch and Thomas Haden Church) who decide to have their mother/ex-wife killed for the insurance money. They contact crooked cop "Killer" Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to get the job done, but they can't pay him until the insurance money comes in. As a retainer, the deranged Killer Joe decides to take Chris's child-like little sister Dottie (Juno Temple) and keep her as his plaything.

Directed by William Friedkin, Killer Joe is exciting, darkly funny and filled with brilliant performances. The film hits a wild, over-the-top crescendo of violence and degradation that some viewers won't be able to stomach (all we can tell you is that it involves Gina Gershon - fearless, as always - and a misused fried chicken leg). For more seasoned (and warped) viewers, though, Killer Joe could be a pitch-black comedy classic.