Matthew McConaughey's comeback tour may have peaked with his title role in this Southern-fried screwball noir. When Chris and his father Ansel (Emile Hirsch and an inspired, stuttering Thomas Haden Church) plan to kill Chris's mother for the insurance cash, they call in professional killer/police detective Joe to handle the job. But Joe's interest in Chris's "special" sister Dottie (Juno Temple) leads to unusual business arrangements, and negotiations explode in a singularly twisted trailer-park climax. Adapting the play by Tracy Letts, Hollywood maverick-turned-independent holdout William Friedkin directs; his taste for sadism has never been personified better than in McConaughey's unassuming-but-dangerous drawl. Sadly, the flat digital photography renders the film a far sight from Friedkin's work in his 1970s heyday (The French Connection, Sorcerer, The Exorcist). But with a denouement this depraved, you'll probably be thankful for the diminished detail.
