Seven Psychopaths has somewhat lost its luster in my view. This was my fourth viewing, and having recently rewatched the fantastic In Bruges and found it every bit as good as the first few times, I was a little surprised to notice so much here I didn't like.

That's not to say this isn't still a good film. I'd say it is. But I'd also now leave it at "good," and not "great."

Crime thrillers awash in self-awareness, slyness, or meta-textuality are nothing new. And not only does this feel in some ways like a ripoff of guys like Tarantino, it also feels a little imitative of films like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It's still doing its own thing, in a way, by being even more upfront with its genre parody and musings on film and screenwriting, but that blatant delivery has little behind it in terms of any "layers" or subtext. So although we do get some smirk-inducing commentary on how "Dream sequences are for queers," it's not married to a story that feels like it could work independently of the self-references to its flaws.

The star-studded cast definitely delivers, particularly Rockwell and Walken, but again this partly works to the detriment of the film, because although Farrell does fine, his character, at the center of the story, is by far the least interesting. And his rocky relationship with his girlfriend seems to be a superficial conflict, as she has maybe three lines in the whole film, but Rockwell still hates her for some unknown reason. McDonagh is aware of this and uses Walken to indict himself: "Marty, I've been reading your movie. Your women characters are awful. None of them have anything to say for themselves. And most of them get either shot or stabbed to death within five minutes. And the ones that don't probably will later on."

And those kind of lines are funny, but continually hanging the lampshade with reference to your script's issues still doesn't fix those issues.

That is the best thing this one has going for it: it's continually funny, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. The playful nature of the script serves as McDonagh's reiteration that he's not taking anything too seriously and we're mostly just here to have a good time.

The color grading is pretty terrible. Characters' skin tends to look orange, and there's little depth to the images. Outside of title text appearing over the shots to indicate the introduction of a psychopath, there's also very little done with the editing to enhance any meaning or provide visual comedy. There are still a few shots here and there that work well and look good, but "few" is the key word.

An enjoyable film oversaturated with wittiness, Seven Psychopaths functions pretty well as a silly and snarky crime thriller with a fantastic cast, but don't expect it to hold anything past that.