With his first couple features, Six Shooter and In Bruges, and this latest film, Seven Psychopaths, stage play director turned feature film director Martin McDonagh has established himself as the guy making the gabbiest, bloodiest crime films since Quentin Tarantino was first taking the scene by storm in the mid 90s. The story here is exactly like it sounds: Seven Psychopaths is a movie about seven guys who are out of their minds, each conceived of by screenwriter Marty (Colin Farrell). Okay, so he didn’t actually come up with most of these characters, actually he copied most of their stories from people he’s encountered in real (fake) life, people who are in this crazy film as well as his crazy film within a film. Seven Psychopaths can get pretty Meta.
The narrative gets kicked off when Marty’s two friends, Billy (Sam Rockwell) and Hans (Christopher Walken), kidnap a psychopathic gangsters’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved shih tzu. It turns out this guy would do anything to get her back, and Billy and Hans are the stubborn types who aren’t quick to back down, so things get increasingly more violent and ridiculous from there. And where McDonagh is at his best is when he’s presenting the violent and ridiculous, usually with a dash of humorous dialogue.
The best thing about this script though, is that it works as such an amazing showcase for the ridiculously talented cast that McDonagh has acquired. In Rockwell, Walken, and Harrelson he’s found a handful of actors who can all go to completely crazy places and sell every second of it, and he’s written them characters that perfectly accentuates each of their talents. Rockwell is charismatic but unhinged, Walken unusual but dangerous, and Harrelson an open wound of fury and vulnerability. Factor in Farrell making for a relatable everyman and a lovable face like Tom Waits showing up and delivering a monologue while petting a rabbit, and Seven Psychopaths provides one of the most twisted but enjoyable times you’ll have in a movie theater this year. Just be prepared to watch the envelope get pushed. You might have some blood or puke on you by the end of your screening.
