Movie Review - Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken

Directed by Martin McDonagh

I'm not quite sure why Seven Psyhopaths took me two sittings nearly a week apart to make it through, but something in the opening forty minutes didn't reel me in and didn't lure me back to complete it after I had to stop watching.  Oddly enough, the same thing happened with director-writer Martin McDonagh's first film In Bruges.  I started that one, stopped after about twenty minutes, and then never went back (I know, I know, people love that one).  Admittedly, maybe I do need to give In Bruges another chance because once I finished up Seven Psychopaths, I found the whole thing a bit refreshing and, while a bit derivative of other films at the beginning, surprisingly original in how its story plays out.

Having recently seen Mr. McDonagh's work onstage in The Cripple of Inishmaan, the Irish writer certainly has an ear for witty dark humor and Seven Psychopaths certainly fits into that category.  Marty (Colin Farrell) is a struggling screenwriter toiling away at his latest endeavor about a movie containing a tale of seven psychopathic murderers (scenes of which we often see in blips as the flick progresses).  Marty's good buddy Billy (Sam Rockwell) is quite the off-the-wall wackadoo who has partnered up with Hans (Christopher Walken) to establish a dog-stealing business in which they kidnap dogs only to return them for the inevitable reward money their owners put up.  However, when Billy and Hans kidnap the dog of Los Angeles gangster Charlie (Woody Harrelson), Marty soon finds himself tangled up in the criminal underworld.

Most intriguing about Seven Psychopaths is the "meta" aspect of the whole thing that kicks in during the second half and elevates the film more than I could have imagined at the outset.  As Marty's script comes alive around him, McDonagh shifts from what was simply a "been there-done that" darkly comedic modern "gangster" film into something with a bit more depth whose twists and turns become much more interesting and plausible despite their inherent implausibility.  McDonagh jokingly (and referentially) points out his script's "flaws" creating a more elevated comedy than we're used to experiencing in a nationwide Hollywood release.

Across the board, the actors are all game with Sam Rockwell standing out mainly because his character is such a live wire that the actor is given a bit more to do.  As McDonagh's self-referential script mentions, the females here are essentially tossed aside and it makes me wonder why Abbie Cornish, former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, and Gabourey Sidibe's roles were even written into the script in the first place.  While it's true that McDonagh recognizes this fault, I can't help but think we actually would have had a slightly stronger film here without the ladies being included.

Seven Psychopaths didn't really come alive for me until the film's second half when the "meta" aspects came front and center.  Prior to that, it felt like a rehash of other dark comedies we've seen before, but by the end I realize that this was likely McDonagh's point.  By creating something so typical, his final acts the way they are writtern are able to branch away and revel in their absurdity.  I wonder if watching it again, I might appreciate things a bit more.  Maybe I need to try to watch In Bruges again...

The RyMickey Rating:  B