Killer Joe

Killer Joe is lurid, violent, and at times way over the top. It's also salacious fun. The film was written by Tracy Letts, based on his play, and those familiar with his Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County will recognize his crackling dialogue, but no can be prepared for the free-for-all bloodshed in this Texas noir.

Set in Dallas, Killer Joe gives us a twisted version of the American family. Emile Hirsch is the son, but he constantly berates his dim-witted father (Thomas Haden Church). The daughter (Juno Temple) has some of mental issues. Church's wife, the kids' stepmother, is Gina Gershon, and her first appearance in the film is bottomless. There is a few minutes of dialogue between her and Hirsch about her bush.

This kicks off the rollicking mixture of deadpan humor and sadistic gore. Hirsch is in debt to some gangsters. He's heard two interesting things: his mother, whom he despises, has a $50,000 life insurance policy, made out to his sister. Two, there is a cop in town who doubles as a hired killer.

This cop, played with cool intensity by Matthew McConaughey, comes to hear Hirsch and Church's offer. He refuses, since he wants his money up front, and not contingent on a life insurance policy. But when he sees Temple, as fresh and dewy as a girl can be, he makes a counteroffer. She will be his "retainer."

This is already twisted and it gets even crazier, as there are double and triple-crossings. The last act of the film has a character fellating a chicken drumstick, and the very ending is an exhilarating rush.

Killer Joe was directed by William Friedkin. Long removed from his days as an A-list director, Friedkin has settled in making small films like this one and Bug. Both are taut and eye-popping glimpses into different kinds of madness. In Killer Joe, I think the key image is the dog chained outside of the family's trailer, enduring wind and rain, barking at everything, like a Cerberus guarding the underworld.

The acting in Killer Joe is of varying types. Hirsch is on high boil, while McConaughey, who seems to be in a renaissance after years of wasting his time in middlebrow romantic comedies and adventures, is on simmer. But I think I enjoyed Church the most, who plays a character that knows he is not too bright. In a wonderful scene, McConaughey shows him a series of pictures of a penis, and asks Church if it's his dick. Each time Church answers no, but in ways that speak volumes about the man's current situation. Needless to say, a man knows what his dick looks like.