Jobana: Film Review: Seven Psychopaths

In Seven Psychopaths, Martin (Colin Farrell) is struggling with his screenplay titled ?Seven Psychopaths?. So far, all he?s got is one psychopath. Martin has a friend named Billy (Sam Rockwell) who steals dogs for a living (though he sees himself as more of a dog-borrower) for a guy named Hans Kieslowski (Christopher Walken). One day Billy steals a shit-zu that just happens to belong to a psychopathic mafioso (Woody Harrelson) and somehow Martin gets drawn into the whole messy affair. Along the way he starts getting more ideas for his screenplay.

As ridiculous as that plot description sounds it?won?t?prepare for you for how wonderfully batshit insane this movie is, a better way might be to describe it as Adaptation by way of Quentin Tarantino. No matter how you describe this movie, one things for sure: It?s terrific.

Writer-director Martin McDonagh has been a respected playwright since the 90s but with his directorial debut In Bruges he proved that he also knows how to make a good movie. With Seven Psychopaths he?s avoided the dreaded ?sophomore slump? and made a movie that?s even better than his excellent debut film.

McDonagh has already proven that he has an ear for great dialogue and Seven Psychopath is seemingly stuffed with brilliant, often hilarious dialogue (example: ?You broke his nose!? ?I?didn?t?hit him in the nose, his nose just happened to be where I punched?). But the dialogue?isn?t?merely just clever and funny as McDonagh is playing with various things at once. First and foremost Seven Psychopaths is a very ?meta? and post-modern little crime-comedy (or whatever you want to call it) that plays with genre tropes and clich?s and gets philosophical about all kinds of things. The lead character is clearly based on McDonagh himself (being an Irish screenwriter named Martin) and most likely in some way based on his own experiences on trying to write. Is what we are seeing just what Martin is trying to write?

Christopher Walken along with cute dog in Seven Psychopaths

Even?Christopher?Walken can be cuddly.

The whole thing is a mess structurally speaking but that must be at least semi-intentional, reflecting the difficulty of writing a screenplay. The story has a feeling of being made up it as it goes along but that also means that the film constantly surprises you, freed from the constraints of convention and realism McDonagh seems to simply be doing whatever he damn well pleases and rarely goes about things the typical way.? This makes for a very pleasing viewing experience as it keeps the viewer constantly on his toes.

It?s hard to imagine a cooler cast for a movie. Walken, Waits and Rockwell are three of the coolest people on the planet and Harrelson and?Farrell?are well on their way to getting on that list as well. The standout here is clearly Sam Rockwell. No one is better than him at playing characters that are absolutely repulsive and yet you still fall in love with them. His character is borderline cartoonish at time but he manages to not just be cool, funny and likeable but also brings a bit of pathos and warmth to the character. Somebody give this guy an Oscar, pronto!

Woody Harrelson is also proving more and more how truly great of an actor he is, the goofy bartender from Cheers is long gone. Christopher Walken is his usual cool self but he?s a little more relaxed than usual, playing as sort of wise older guy who?s not all he seems.? Farrell himself may be the least showy here, even though he?s the lead character, and thus perhaps not as memorable as the others but he still does great things with his character. Then there?s Tom Waits whose role is actually quite small but still very memorable, not much of a stretch for Waits but he?s always the coolest of the cool. It?s also worth noting some very solid supporting performances from the likes of Zeljko Ivanek, Harry Dean Stanton, Michael Stuhlbarg and Gabourey Sidibe.

As for the women, they?don?t?get much to do even though two of them are on the poster. Basically, the mostly just serve as props, or plot devices. Abbie Cornish and Olga Kurylenko do what they can but there?s not much there. One female character is pretty much literally a plot device as she appears in one scene and her sole purpose it be killed so the plot can move forward. The movie points out that its female characters are secondary and flat by having a character read Martin?s screenplay and say it outright. Some might say McDonagh is just trying to get away with having female characters that are lacking but it can also be seen that he did this deliberately precisely to point out the problem with Hollywood. His female characters here are clearly secondary. At the very least it makes you think (Farrell says it reflects ?how hard it is for women?, he?s right in a way).

The filmmaking is not flashy here or calls much attention to itself, this is a movie very much about words and characters. Nonetheless it?s very impressive filmmaking. McDonagh fills the movie with gorgeous visuals and the movie looks lovely. He even manages to make a shot of a burnt corpse look somehow poetic. Carter Burwell?s music score also has a part in that.

But what is this movie really about? It throws many things at you and often just seems to be a big joke, or a series of big jokes. And that?s just fine as the movie is entertaining and funny as hell. But there?s definitely more. At the very least Seven Psychopaths can simply be seen as some sort of meditation on the nature of writing and creativity, what it means to tell a good story, and all the elements are simply examples of storytelling and how there?s really no limit to how wild you can go with your imagination. Or maybe it?s just a bunch of goofy wankery. Whatever it is, it works.

Final Verdict: A brilliant, hilarious, consistently clever and surprising crime-comedy with great performances from all the leads. Writer-Director Martin McDonagh avoids the sophomore slump and outdoes himself with a film that?s even better than his excellent debut film, In Bruges. Maybe a little too clever for its own good, and it?s not easy to tell what?s it?s exactly about, but it will be hard to find a more entertaining and funny movie this year.