Rating: **
Man, when I saw the preview for this film while watching this John Woo movie I rented (yes, I do sometimes watch non-horror movies), I was psyched and I thought that I was gonna love it. So, next time I got a chance I rented THE PAPERBOY with the hopes that it would be a silly little movie about a psycho paperboy who delivered death with his papers. So, expecting that, I was disappointed, yet THE PAPERBOY isn't a terrible movie. It's not necessarily that enjoyable, either, but the concept of the movie is actually quite disturbing in a creepy kind of way.
The plot begins promisingly as the paperboy climbs into the house of an old lady in his neighborhood and kills her with a plastic bag as she watches a videotape of her daughter and her grandaughter. As the cheesy, Psycho rip-off music blasted when he attacked her from behind so that you couldn't see his face, I was psyched. This looked to be a good killer movie where you don't see the killer until the end. Wrong I was. Next shot was of this kid riding his bike to happy music through a nice setting. What? I didn't get it.
As things continue, the daughter of the killed old lady came to her house with her little girl. The paperboy almost immediately falls in love with her and starts to form friendships with her and her daughter. Before long, the paperboy decides that he is a part of their family. What about his own family, you ask? Well, he's got a dad who basically ignored him, and his mom died many years earlier.
Now here comes both the problem and good points of THE PAPERBOY. In any other movie, the dad who ignored him would be a genuine asshole who deserved to be killed. But in this movie, he is just frightened and makes genuine attempts to rectify himself by spending time with his son. When the paperboy kills him, then, you don't get that same thrill you do in normal horror movies. Instead you get a bit of a sick feeling in your stomach. This is also the case when the paperboy knocks over a ladder the neighborhood babysitter climbs leaving her not dead, but paralyzed for life. At this point, you have to start thinking that the filmmakers of THE PAPERBOY were pretty sick.
There's more, as the paperboy unhappily sees a relationship forming between the woman who wants to be his mother and another man, played by William Katt (the Greatest American Hero). He sees this as tearing apart the family. Indeed, the whole concept of THE PAPERBOY is an odd one. It's really about a truly screwed up kid and the stuff he goes through. On the one hand, this is not that entertaining to view. On the plus side, however, it's far more interesting than a normal horror movie. THE PAPERBOY does not portray characters and situations in the typical black-and-white of horror films, and in this respect it surprised me. The bottome line is: should you rent THE PAPERBOY? Well, if you're not easily disturbed by odd psychological situations, then go for it, otherwise pass over it and head for something else. Rating: ** (out of a possible four).
