Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will discontinue
publishing this website at the end of May (more...)
Search a Movie:
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHSMovie Reviews
Comedy about a struggling screenwriter whose best friend helps him find inspiration for a story that makes them both the targets of a psychotic gangster. Cast:Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga KurylenkoDirector:Martin McDonaghRelease Date:October 12, 2012DVD Release:January 29, 2013From:CBS FilmsRating:RLength:1 hr. 49 min.
Seven Psychopaths played to very good reviews. • Marc Mohan wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "Consistently surprising... plays like a combination of Quentin Tarantino's self-aware, savvy ultraviolence and Charlie Kaufman's reflexive head trips." • And Stephen Whitty wrote in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, "...a crazy, gory, wild-eyed wack job of a movie... Not surprisingly, I loved it." More Reviews Below...
Alynda Wheat, People: VERY GOOD(cg) "Meta, funny and wildly gory... skates by on pure style.... features a pretzel plot that's heavy on crass jokes. It's a pleasure, heavy on the guilt."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 51 words, 10/11/12
Richard Corliss, Time: VERY GOOD "...viewers may find it hard to tell whether the movie is winking at them or closing one eye for a better, fatal aim at its victims in the theater.... consistently entertaining..."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,011 words, 09/15/12
Jake Coyle, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...manic and messy... it's also filled with deranged wit and unpredictable genre deconstruction that make it, if not quite a success, a fascinating mutt of a movie."(See all of Jake Coyle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 250 words, 10/11/12
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "...energetically demented... rollicks along to the unique narrative beat and language stylings of Anglo-Irish writer-director Martin McDonagh, channeling Quentin Tarantino."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 137 words, 10/05/12
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD(cg) "Blood splatters, heads explode, and McDonagh takes sassy, self-mocking shots at the very notion of being literary in Hollywood. It's crazy-killer fun."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 251 words, 10/12/12
Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a devilishly smart film that not only sends up the hipster crime genre, but also makes a powerful statement about violence -- in a brilliantly satirical way."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 475 words, 10/12/12
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING(cg) "All of the actors are good... Colin Farrell wisely allows the showier performances to circle around him.... he brings these people into being and stands back in amazement."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 520 words, 10/12/12
James Rocchi, MSN Movies: EXCELLENT(cg) "...demonstrates, hilariously, the big difference between watching violence and living it, and how everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."(See all of James Rocchi's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 719 words, 09/08/12
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "For about 75 minutes, this is a rollicking good movie... it falls into the category of entertaining movies undone by disapponting final acts."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 772 words, 10/12/12
we have an app for when you're out and about
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
movie review intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...sporadically funny... filled with clever jokes and observations that stick like barbs and deflated ones that land with a thud."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 459 words, 10/12/12
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...hazy but fun... Each cast member helps push it along, with standouts including Rockwell, Harrelson and Gabourey Sidibe in a brief but memorable scene."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 406 words, 10/12/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...this film wants to deliver genre satisfactions while simultaneously subverting them. It's a difficult maneuver, and 'Seven Psychopaths' doesn't quite pull it off."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 728 words, 10/12/12
Kyle Smith, New York Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "I was left thinking McDonagh can do better than this, and yet I was slightly more agog with admiration than peevish with frustration. Most of all, I wanted to see the film again."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 10/12/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a clever, violent daydream... the way McDonagh writes, he's able to attract the ideal actors into his garden of psychopathology."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 657 words, 10/12/12
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "You might not even care that the movie is just a string of random vignettes with stunt-casting (Tom Waits as a serial killer, Harry Dean Stanton as a Quaker)."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 285 words, 10/12/12
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: GOOD "...the line between reality and fantasy is so blurred that the blurring itself becomes the joke -- a brilliant one... [but] the meta turns monotonous..."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 183 words, 10/07/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "All of the actors are good... Colin Farrell wisely allows the showier performances to circle around him.... he brings these people into being and stands back in amazement."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 520 words, 10/12/12
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice/LA Weekly: EXCELLENT "Remember the shitty crime comedies every Hollywood brat tried to make after 'Pulp Fiction?' It took an Irish playwright to get it right. See it with an audience."(See all of Alan Scherstuhl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 722 words, 10/10/12
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "The really crazy thing about this film is how much sense it makes, in a weird sort of way. And how much fun it has while doing so."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 679 words, 10/12/12
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...never pretends to be anything but a bright hall of fun-house mirrors. And there, so gloriously distorted, gargoyles look right at home."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 623 words, 10/12/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...an insubstantial but endearing goof on genre clichés, with knockout supporting turns by Walken, Harrelson and the always delightful Rockwell... certainly has its moments."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 155 words, 10/11/12
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: MODERATE(cg) "...hyper-talky, super-stylized, smart-but-shallow... the film also begins to feel like a case of a director getting to revel in the very thing he's reviling."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 648 words, 10/12/12
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...put a gun in the hands of Harrelson and some glorious gab in the mouth of Walken and it's impossible not to make something of this profanity-flying conflation."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 517 words, 10/12/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "McDonagh wants to be both Coen brothers in one body. He comes close. The film is absurdly entertaining even after it disappears up its own hindquarters in the last act..."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 874 words, 10/12/12
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "It's not a comment on an ugly, crazy world, nor is it a response to an ugly, crazy world. It's just ugly all on its own - and not nearly as crazy as it should be."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 647 words, 10/12/12
Soren Andersen, Seattle Times: MODERATE(cg) "It's all so self-referential, so self-impressed with its own cleverness, as it comments archly on movie clichés and then indulges in them... comes off as a big inside joke."(See all of Soren Andersen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 377 words, 10/12/12
Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT(cg) "Consistently surprising... plays like a combination of Quentin Tarantino's self-aware, savvy ultraviolence and Charlie Kaufman's reflexive head trips."(See all of Marc Mohan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 231 words, 10/12/12
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a vivid illusion of fun, but sane consumers can find similar sensations in the discount video bin eight days a week."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 374 words, 10/12/12
Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times: GOOD(cg) "...frequently, distastefully entertaining.... On one hand, it's a daring protest. On the other, McDonagh just echoes what he's protesting."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 460 words, 10/11/12
Tom Long, Detroit News: MODERATE(cg) "...you never really believe any of these characters, the female roles are all throwaways, and the entire exercise becomes too self-conscious to work."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 285 words, 10/12/12
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: MODERATE(cg) "Stranded in the desert, the film tells instead of showing, and as one of these knuckleheads aptly puts it, hanging out with psychos gets tiresome."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 480 words, 10/12/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (11 Reviews)
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice/LA Weekly: EXCELLENT "Remember the shitty crime comedies every Hollywood brat tried to make after 'Pulp Fiction?' It took an Irish playwright to get it right. See it with an audience."(See all of Alan Scherstuhl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 722 words, 10/10/12
Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...stares directly back at itself as a movie, tells you what it's going to do, and then surprises you when things unfold as they should or don't."(See all of Eric Eisenberg's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 646 words, 10/10/12
Noel Murray, AV Club: OUTSTANDING(cg) "There's a soul to these nesting and rhyming stories of ruthless killers and what motivates them to pick up their guns and knives -- and in some cases, gas cans."(See all of Noel Murray's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 333 words, 09/11/12
Chris Barsanti, Pop Matters: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...often sublimely hilarious... the film feels almost twitchy when nobody's life is in immediate mortal danger, like it's impatient to get to the next spectacle..."(See all of Chris Barsanti's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 707 words, 10/12/12
John Semley, Slant: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The film's textures, jokes, and performances are uniformly wonderful, but this is a case of the whole feeling oddly deficient when balanced against the sum of its parts."(See all of John Semley's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 924 words, 10/10/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...an insubstantial but endearing goof on genre clichés, with knockout supporting turns by Walken, Harrelson and the always delightful Rockwell... certainly has its moments."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 155 words, 10/11/12
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: EXCELLENT(cg) "The film's more sensitive scenes ultimately serve as gravy, since it so entertainingly caters to the audience's more basic impulses."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 668 words, 10/12/12
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...bursting with equal parts exasperation, despair, cultural criticism, and black comedy... the most delightful thing here is Farrell."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 431 words, 12/07/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (7 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...making it must have been fun for the filmmaker. Some of the film is fun for moviegoers, too... Still, the violence wears you down."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 10/12/12
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...sporadically funny... filled with clever jokes and observations that stick like barbs and deflated ones that land with a thud."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 459 words, 10/12/12
David Denby, New Yorker: MODERATE "...an unstable mess filled with lunatic invention and bizarre nonsense.... McDonagh has discovered the beauty of freedom in movies, but not the beauty of logic..."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 654 words, 10/15/12
Stephanie Zacharek, NPR: GOOD "...entertaining at first... There's something overtly mechanical about McDonagh's approach that keeps it all from being as outrageously fun as it's pretending to be."(See all of Stephanie Zacharek's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 639 words, 10/11/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...this film wants to deliver genre satisfactions while simultaneously subverting them. It's a difficult maneuver, and 'Seven Psychopaths' doesn't quite pull it off."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 728 words, 10/12/12
Dana Stevens, Slate: GOOD "...bracingly weird... This is a movie that throws a lot of stuff at you... the pure sick brio of 'Seven Psychopaths' takes it a long way... pleasurably kinetic..."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 777 words, 10/12/12
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: VERY GOOD "...admirably ambitious and brushes close to greatness... loaded with scabrous, funny McDonagh dialogue and arguably overloaded with offbeat performances..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,147 words, 10/10/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: MODERATE "...exploits easy quirk for big laughs.... feels like either an older script knocking around the bottom of a drawer or one hastily tossed off between more ambitious projects."(See all of Peter Debruge's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 670 words, 09/08/12
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "If it ultimately isn't about much beyond its larkish spirit, the amount of blithe bloodletting will surely please fans of souped-up, self-referential crime capers."(See all of David Rooney's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 856 words, 09/11/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...this film wants to deliver genre satisfactions while simultaneously subverting them. It's a difficult maneuver, and 'Seven Psychopaths' doesn't quite pull it off."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 728 words, 10/12/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "The main reason to see this movie is Martin McDonagh's near-perfect cast. Everyone delivers on-the-money performances here, Colin Farrell included."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 772 words, 09/28/12
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...sporadically funny... filled with clever jokes and observations that stick like barbs and deflated ones that land with a thud."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 459 words, 10/12/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...making it must have been fun for the filmmaker. Some of the film is fun for moviegoers, too... Still, the violence wears you down."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 10/12/12
16.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Seven Psychopaths's reviews are separated by an average 16.3 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Seven Psychopaths (51 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Seven Psychopaths's reviews cover 99.7% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 26,723 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 524 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 5 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Seven Psychopaths's reviews on average broke 5 days before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Seven Psychopaths's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Seven Psychopaths (51 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
