After his product was stolen by his mother, a West Texas drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) decides to have her murdered, in collusion with his father (Thomas Haden Church) and stepmother (Gina Gershon) to collect on the considerable life insurance policy. Trading one creditor for another, he hires Joe (Matthew McConaughey), a police detective and contract killer who does not work on credit and develops a sick fixation on his patron's teenage sister (Juno Temple), whom he eventually takes as collateral. Killer Joe is a wickedly funny, pitch black film from William Friedkin who, working again with Bug screenwriter Tracy Letts from his stage play, proves he can make engrossing, offbeat films well into his seventies. The film contains some excellent crime elements and a knockout performance from McConaughey, while some good elements do get lost in an exceedingly trashy treatment, which includes the now notorious fried chicken assault sequence.
