Killer Joe

I had an extra ticket for the premiere of Killer Joe, a new William Friedkin film premièring yesterday for the first day of the Edinburgh Film Festival 2012. The director himself was there to present it, as was the delightful Gina Gershon. However given that it featured Matthew McConaughey, I couldn't find anyone to go with me for love nor money. In frustration, I bribed Wetsoks, which in both foresight and hindsight was a terrible idea.

Wetsoks: (wailing) Ugh, we're outside! It's awful! Look, there are Muggles everywhere!

Me: Buddy. Just... deal with it.

Wetsoks: No! Outside bad! BAD!

Me: (pinching my nose) Oh for goodness sake.

Wetsoks: Why do you take me nice places? You know I hate that.

Me: Because no one else would - oh, never mind.

There was a brief silence.

Wetsoks: What's this film even about anyway?

Me: Um... as far as I understand it from the trailer-

Wetsoks: Is it set in space?

Me: What? No.

Wetoks: Does it contain dragons or any kind of fantasy?

Me: No.

Wetoks: Oh god, it's all the things I hate, isn't it?

Me: I -

Wetsoks: It's not one of those emotional films, is it? Like, with feelings, and stuff?

Me: Well, it has Matthew McConaughey in it... so probably not.

Wetsoks: Actually I quite like him.

Me: There's no accounting for personal taste. Anyway, it's supposed to be about a guy who hires a contract killer to murder his mother, so he can collect the insurance policy.

Wetsoks: This sounds awful.

Me: The Guardian gave it 4 stars. And said it was Matthew McConaughey's best work yet... which frankly wouldn't be that difficult to achieve...

I have to say that in all seriousness, I actually really enjoyed Killer Joe. I found it vastly entertaining, even if the beginning was a little rushed; however give the personalities of the characters, the plot still felt pretty plausible. I can't say that I take back all of my earleir criticism of Matthew McConaughey, because I sat through How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, losing approximately 2 hours of my life that I would have spent happily spent doing absolutely anything else, up to and including participating in a Crocs fashion show, and I can never forgive him entirely for that offence. In fairness, I blame Kate Hudson equally, but I don't think she is actually capable of offering anything more, whereas Killer Joe showed that Matthew McConaughey is actually a pretty decent actor when given something chunky and worthwhile to work with.

A quick word of caution to those of you who are planning to see this film - it is violent. It is shocking in places. And you'll never look at chicken in quite the same way again. You have been warned.