The question one should have going into this movie is whether this John Malkovich performance is as brilliant as everybody says it is, and…. Yes, it is. For the most part, this is a very flighty and comedically astute performance, but as the film goes along and things get increasingly serious, he does nail seriously heavy emotional beats without changing the nature of the character itself. Sam Rockwell does deserve equal credit for holding this film down the way he does, playing more of a straight arrow than Malkovich, and more of a straight arrow than any of the characters in 60% of his catalog.
This is a two-man show filled with verbal jousting between these two, and it does not get old, imo. One thing about Martin McDonagh movies is that he always finds actors with resplendent chemistry and just lets us hang out with the wicked yet endlessly charismatic and likable individuals they play, and root for them. On par with Martin McDonagh’s best stuff.