(Originally from Facebook – August 20, 2013)

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is Martin McDonagh’s 2012 dark comedy/thriller. It’s really an intriguing name, but I’m not sure the film lived up to it. It’s not that there weren’t seven psychopaths actually in it. (I’m pretty sure there were more than seven.) It’s that it seemed a little disjointed to me; an interesting title, with a not-as-interesting follow-through. In some ways it’s a “meta”-film, about the film within a film that Colin Farrell’s character, Marty, is writing. And after a while, I thought it was just a touch intrusive.

But the performances are what saves the day here. How can you not like a film that has Harry Dean Stanton, Christopher Walken, AND Sam Rockwell in it?! And that just scratches the surface of the star-studded cast. They’re all fairly interesting, no matter what they’re doing. If you want to see it, see it for that reason.

There are some sections that will strain belief, but they’re quickly gone, and some new joke or offbeat line of dialogue has come along to replace them. I just think it tries too hard to be clever, is too aware of itself to fully realize its potential. It’s also very violent. It’s not that I’m against violence in a film, it’s just that it’s become so cartoonish, that I worry that it may have very little impact on the audience. I guess it works fine here, since it IS a dark comedy, but I’m bothered by the trend.

IMDB gives it a 7.2. I dearly love watching Walken and Rockwell, but even they couldn’t get me to give it more than a 6.0, and even that’s probably a little high. You should probably watch it, I just wouldn’t rush right out to do so. (running time 1:50)