Killer Joe

Being totally honest, I watched this one based entirely on the cast. Being even more totally honest, while there are lots of people in this one that I like, my main draw to Killer Joe was Matthew McConaughey. Say what you will about Mr. McConaughey, but I love the dude. There are few people making movies today with the ability and range to play as many different type of roles that he does. In Killer Joe, as of right now, I have to say he's probably at his absolute best. He's that good  in it.

Killer Joe is one of those train wreck type of movies, where something happens to somebody who isn't particularly intelligent to begin with, who then gets into trouble and proceeds to do even more unintelligent things that ends up getting him into even more trouble. Case in point, Chris, a young man who is the product of a Texas white trash trailer park upbringing who has amassed quite a bit of gambling debt and doesn't have the money to pay up. Seeing no other options, he hires "Killer" Joe Cooper, to murder his mother so that he can collect the insurance money. Of course things go as far from "as planned" as they could, and Chris and his family end up not only in trouble with the local loan shark, but also a contract killer who has performed a service which they can't afford to pay him for.

This movie is pretty fucking twisted. I had no idea just how twisted it was going to get. All I knew was it has the Con-man, Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, and Gina Gershon, and if that doesn't flip your switch immediately then you've been watching the wrong movies. But damn, there is some pretty brutal stuff in Killer Joe, some of which is a bit difficult to watch. As mentioned, the cast is fantastic, and everybody 100% brings their A-game. I imagine when a group of talented people get to work together like this, it's incentive for them to be at their best. This is definitely the case here. If you've never been around a trailer park family, trust me when I tell you, the Smith's (Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon, and Juno Temple) are frighteningly on point.

If the last half hour of this movie doesn't leave you sitting there with your mouth hanging open with a "what the FUCK?" look on your face, then go ahead and assume that you terrify me.