On the one hand, Killer Joe does get better as it progresses, but on the other, it's also the first Friedkin movie I haven't loved.

Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.

William Friedkin serves up Trailer Trash Neo-Noir with a side order of Fried Chicken.

Killer Joe is directed by William Friedkin and adapted to screenplay by Tracy Letts from his own play of the same name. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon. Music is scored by Tyler Bates and cinematography by Caleb Deschanel. Plot finds Hirsch as Chris Smith, who because he is in severe debt to local thugs, hatches a plan to bump off his waster of a mother and claim the life insurance. Roping in the rest of his trailer dwelling family, he hires Kil... read the rest.

Killer Joe had the making to be a genuinely great film, but the quality control in the writing room limits the results.

So much of the story works for me on a thematic and plot progression basis. I enjoyed the premise and the stakes that this movie provides, but writer Tracy Letts wrote this like it was some subversive wet dream of his as a teenager.

This movie is vial, there is so much unnecessary nudity from creepy changing room shots to women's genitals being presented in full view, to soft-core pornography in the climax of the movie. I understand that this movie is supposed to have... read the rest.