Review of Seven Chances (1925) by Matt M — 25 Dec 2013

Keaton is a struggling lawyer who will inherit a fortune if he is to marry before7 p.m. of his 27th birthday. When his sweetheart turns him down, the poor soul starts looking everywhere for a woman who will marry him, to the point that the search leads him to be chased down by an angry mod of ready-made brides in a typical Keatonesque chase finale.

Spectacular and nostalgic in equal amounts, it's hard to believe that Keaton himself did not want to make this film but was commissioned it and didn't like it until much later in his career. This film is fun and it feels like the product of indeed a brilliant and fresh concept, and while the tenderness may feel a bit lacking here and there - perhaps underplayed as an artistic decision or the sign of Keaton not having much of a care for this particular work of his - the great creative gags and his impenetrable and sometimes deadpan reactions to the chaos and mayhem that revolves all around him is priceless as usual.