3 out of 5

Director: Martin McDonagh

If Adaptation was about experiencing a story, Seven Psychopaths is about writing a story.  Both films work on comedic, dramatic, and meta levels, but whereas the format for Adaptation allows (requires) the audience to be involved, S.P. feels like a much more personal work for Martin McDonagh, spruced up with some creative humor and amusing somewhat non-sequitors to make it as palatable as possible.  It is, at times, hilarious, and there is genius sprinkled throughout, and it’s helpful that McDonagh has a self-aggrandizing sense of humor about himself (I’m assuming) that works because it feels honest.  He has grown as a director, more confidence in his style of scripting patience and light genre blending, but by the same token, the step up in quality reminds me of Rian Johnson’s stylistic shift between Brick and Brothers Bloom – more polished, but polished to a recognizable similarity to similar style films – as mentioned below, Tarantino, Coen’s, etc.  Which could all be part of the meta, of course, but as the point is so self-contained, and this is only a second film, it’s hard to say how much is purposeful.  The acting is unique in that EVERYONE steals the show without, somehow, stealing it from anyone else.  Lastly, the whole thing does suffer a tad from the heavy-handedness of In Bruges, but Seven Psychopaths is a wildly unique film that can’t grasp greatness due to its distancing effect, but still makes me eager for more McDonagh.