Critics were not kind to Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month. Reviews were vicious, and we called it "a lurid, florid, humid, flaccid and insipid waste of time and money for the audience and for everyone who made it." While the starry cast — Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo and more — combined with a retro story promised potential awards season material, that seemed to have been snuffed out by the film's reception on the Croisette. But don't tell that to Millenium Entertainment.
The distributor has staked out an October 5th release date for the film, putting it right in the awards season, though it should be noted, the shingle isn't exactly known for being a major player in that arena. Nonetheless, you too will get to see Kidman pee on Efron, in the story that follows Ward James (McConaughey), a respected journalist, and his brother Jack (Efron), a college dropout, investigating the possible wrongful conviction of a death row inmate (Cusack) who was found guilty of killing the town’s sheriff in Florida.
So, were the critics in Cannes sharpening their knives on this or is it truly an abomination? Guess we'll find out soon enough. In other minor release date news: crime pic "Alex Cross" with a ripped and roided Matthew Fox and the dramedy "The Big Wedding" starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and Katherine Heigl have swapped dates and will now open on October 19th and 26th, respectively. [Variety/BoxOfficeMojo]