SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
By Gary Murray
Starring Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell
Written and directed by Martin McDonagh
Running time 109 min
MPAA Rating R
Selig Film Rating Matinee
Recently, there has been a mixing of genres in order to make a new hybrid. There have been action comedies, sci-fi romances, Western buddy flicks, et al. The latest to mesh different styles is Martin McDonagh who combines the comedy and the mobster flick with his latest release.
Seven Psychopaths opens with two nefarious hit men waiting for their latest mark. As they discuss different things, a masked gunman walks up behind them. The masked man executes the two hit men, throwing two Jack of Diamonds cards on the dead bodies. He is slated as “Psychopath #1”
The film then takes off. Marty (Colin Farrell) is a Hollywood screenwriter with a title Seven Psychopaths and not much more. The man is a bit of an alcoholic with a super hot girlfriend Kaya (Abbie Cornish). All he knows for sure is that his seven characters need to be different kinds of psychopaths.
Marty’s best buddy is Billy (Sam Rockwell). He runs a scam where he steals dogs and his friend Hans (Christopher Walken) takes the pooches back for the reward. Hans is doing this to make money for his cancer stricken wife Myra (Linda Bright Clay). Hans and Myra have their own history of violence.
One day, Billy steals Bonnie, the dog of Charlie (Woody Harrelson). He is the major psycho of the piece, obsessed over his little pooch. Very quickly, he and his fellow thugs figure out the scam and capture Hans who leads them Marty who leads them to Billy. It also leads them to the masked mobster killer.
Eventually the three take out for the wastelands. The film somewhat falls apart at this part. Our three men discuss all of the options while getting drunk and high in the desert. The film trudges toward a shoot-out between different kinds of crazies. In the end, Seven Psychopaths plays like a Quentin Tarantino feature but without the over the top flair.
Of all the leads, only Sam Rockwell takes his turns and spins it into a special attribute. He is a guy who will do anything and everything to help his buddy find the right beats for the screenplay. It is an obsessive tic waiting to explode. There is this manic glee in his delivery that becomes infectious as it plays out.
The other reason to see Seven Psychopaths is Woody Harrelson. As Charlie, he comes across as a rabid dog, much less sane than the canine he professes to love. This crazed individual drives the screenplay to its bitter end. This is yet another stunning bit of acting from one of the best thespians working today.
Writer/director Martin McDonagh makes his film a bit too complicated for its own good. Mixing the screenplay world and the movie world becomes a bit chaotic as it unfolds. He would have been better not to focus on some of the screeplay aspects and kept with his major characters. In the end, it just becomes too much.
Seven Psychopaths is the darkest of dark comedy, violent and gleeful in its blood soaked macabre vision. While some may find it a bit offsetting, I found the film to be a crazed hoot of a flick. It is just different enough to work.
