In Theaters

Killer Joe

Movie Details

Killer Joe
  • Genre: Comedy, Drama
  • Release Date: 2012-07-27 NY
  • Running Time: 103 min.
  • Director: William Friedkin
  • Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Marc Macaulay, Lori Eden, Danny Epper, Kylie Creppel, Scott A. Martin
  • Producers: Nicolas Chartier, Scott Einbinder
  • Writer: Tracy Letts
  • Distributor: Independent Pictures
  • Official Site: Killer Joe Official Site

At one point in Killer Joe, based on Tracy Letts's play, a hideously funny tabloid noir set on the outskirts of Dallas County, Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is let into the family double-wide by a relation whose face has just been pummeled into a Rorschach blot of dried gore. He doesn't stop to ask what happened--such is the milieu of casual violence in which the film takes place, where it's easy to slip imperceptibly into perdition. In to some bad men for money, Chris enlists his father, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), in a plan: Kill Momma and collect on the life insurance policy she has made over to teenage daughter, Dottie (Juno Temple, a peroxided sprite who's more than a little touched). They enlist the services of "Killer Joe" Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a West Dallas detective who moonlights as a hired killer. The Smiths don't have money for a down payment, but they have something more precious: Dottie is a virgin. No longer content to gigolo along on his looks, McConaughey again shows new depths in an auteur's film: "His eyes hurt," says Dottie of Joe, and indeed they do, while the click of Joe's Zippo sounds like an unsheathed dagger. Director William Friedkin has always been an envelope-pusher, most famously with The Exorcist, and Killer Joe contains one particular scene that is as difficult as any I've seen. It is not, however, egregious--in fact, it synthesizes Joe's double life as cop and killer, revolving around the horrible discord that occurs when interrogation-room psychological warfare is unleashed in a domestic setting.

Nick Pinkerton
VOICE Daily Deals

Now Showing

Find capsule reviews, showtimes & tickets for all films in town.

Powered By VOICE Places
Phoenix Event Tickets

Box Office

  1. Iron Man 3, 72.5 mil, 284.9 mil
  2. The Great Gatsby, 50.1 mil, 50.1 mil
  3. Pain & Gain, 5.0 mil, 41.6 mil
  4. Peeples, 4.6 mil, 4.6 mil
  5. 42, 4.6 mil, 84.7 mil
  6. Oblivion, 4.1 mil, 81.9 mil
  7. The Croods, 3.6 mil, 173.2 mil
  8. Mud, 2.5 mil, 8.6 mil
  9. The Big Wedding, 2.5 mil, 18.3 mil
  10. Oz The Great and Powerful, 1.1 mil, 230.3 mil
Movie Title, Weekly Earnings, Total Earnings

Movie Trailers

©2013 Phoenix New Times, LLC, All rights reserved.
Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places Phoenix

    Voice Places

    Find everything you're looking for in your city

  • Happy Hour App

    Happy Hour App

    Find the best happy hour deals in your city

  • Daily Deals

    Daily Deals

    Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city

Join
Log In