Seven Psychopaths

Nobody writes dialogue and scripts as stupid as Martin McDonagh these days. This one is even more stupid, absurd (in the negative sense of the word) and clueless than In Bruges. I don’t know what this bloke’s playing at, but I reckon we’ll never be friends. If this is supposed to be some fresh, unorthodox direction in contemporary modern cinema, I, as a viewer, don't want to be part of it. Thank God for Tarantino... (01/18/2013)

“Psychopaths sell like hotcakes,” Joe Gills said sixty years ago. It’s evident that Hollywood’s affection for psychopaths has only grown since then. Seven Psychopaths is an original postmodern pun (the only film I can think to compare it to is Kitano’s Sonatine) about which probably no one can offer better commentary than Martin McDonagh, who does so through the mouths of his characters. The film’s main value added, the ceaseless self-reflective revealing of the rules according to which films about psychopaths (i.e. a significant part of American cinema) function, raises doubts about how seriously the serious moments should be taken. Whereas In Bruges was gripping as both an existential drama and a brutal black-humour thriller, Seven Psychopaths doesn’t stick around long enough in either genre for the scenes to have a proper emotional effect. The transitions from serious etudes on the topic of “I kill people, but otherwise I’m also human” to gore farce are smooth and the actors play their roles in just the right way that you sympathise with them a little, laugh at them a bit and kind of want to kill them. However, these transitions are constant and sometimes are obviously added in only so that the film doesn’t just go with the flow and come across as ordinary. A drop of normality in this ocean of madness could serve well as evidence that the film’s creator means something seriously and as an emotional point of reference that elevates the film above the level of an evening’s entertainment. However, this is still first-rate entertainment of the with many levels and boasting one of the best (multi)genre screenplays since Inglourious Basterds. 80% (11/28/2012)

In Bruges was more magical, more atmospheric and more cohesive, but I have a weak spot of weird meta stuff like this. Brutality, black humour, a psychopath at every turn and constant self reflection through the character of the screenwriter, Marty (an excellent Farrell, compensating for this year’s pointless Total Recall), and his script of Seven Psychopaths. Yeah, the film’s protagonist is writing the script of the film where he’s acting. That says everything. On the one hand, it’s a bit like covering your own ass (anything can happen and everything can be explained). On the other, it’s a chance to unleash the screenwriters and have fun writing and filming something original. Which to a greater extent they did successfully. McDonagh is awesome. (12/01/2012)

Ow! Pity half the budget was crippled by the dermatology clinic taking care of the director/screenwriter's foreskin, which was in a really underwhelming state when the script was finished, and thus the characters have to be transported to the desert for the rest of the film, where they practically just talk to each other like in some French film. I love filmmakers who try to convince me all the time that they're better than everyone else, and giving McDonagh American money to make another movie might start some kind of war. Meta-meta-meta-methadone. (07/15/2013)

Martin McDonagh has taken a huge beating with his previous films, and Seven Psychopaths was not all that successful despite its stellar cast and promising subject matter. Fortunately, it didn't turn out to be a bad film, but I still think that it could have been made a little differently than by ripping off the Coens and Tarantino. The film moves along thanks to a great soundtrack, and from time to time we get a really good (mostly black) joke... It's just a shame that I found the main character to be completely unnecessary and the way Colin Farrell played him to be very dull. I'm rounding up three and a half stars for the actors (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell in particular) and for the whole final part in the desert (including the epilogue), which was really great.__P.S. Most of the scenes I missed in Seven Psychopaths are on the DVD among the scenes that were cut... Well, at least that's something. (01/12/2014)