REVIEW: Seven Psychopaths

 There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.


THE GOOD: Story. Seven Psychopaths celebrates story. It's actually the title of a script that Colin Farrell's character is scribing in the film, which makes it a story within a story sort of thing. It's easy to compare this movie to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. Both films have a lot of really interesting characters who all become involved with one another somehow. I also want to compare it to Hot Fuzz, especially towards the end of the movie.

You know, I liked this movie, but I thought Seven Psychocats was better.

Martin McDonagh. Seven Psychopaths is written and directed by Martin McDonagh, who received lots of praise for his first film from 2008, In Bruges. Like that movie, 7Psychos is ripe with Irish humor. Yes, "Irish humor." While the movie mostly takes place in Hollywood, it does not really have any American humor, nor British humor. So, Irish humor is where I like to stick movies like this, In Bruges, and McDonagh's brother's film, The Guard in. If I had to describe the type of humor, I would say that it's dark, sometimes vulgar, violent, and surprising. It's feel fresh for cinemas these days and I welcome originality any time I can get it. McDonagh's ability to come up with such a unique story is hard to find and he's quickly making a good name for himself in showbiz.

Acting. Talk about an all-star cast here. Believe it or not, Colin Farrell actually plays a fairly normal guy in this movie. Aside from being an alcoholic, which is poked fun at since he plays an Irishman, he's just a normal screenwriter with a bit of writer's block. It's the rest of the folks around Farrell's character who are a bit off. Sam Rockwell is his main friend and you realize that he's a little loopy right off the bat. Then you have Christopher Walken who has the best performance I've seen in years from him. I laughed the most during his scenes. Then Woody Harrelson plays the gangster boss whose dog gets stolen and turns their lives into a mess. There are additional great roles in here for Harry Dean Stanton and Tom Waits, who seem to be a bit crazy in real life anyway.

If either of these guys were staring at me from across a waiting room, I would panic.

THE BAD: Nothing.


THE END: Seven Psychopaths won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and is currently tracking an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's even better than Ben Affleck's Argo. Both films are being released wide this weekend, but 7Psychos will be in less than half of the 3,250+ theatres Argo will play at. But Oscar season is among us and we're going to get these days every now and then when two really great films come out on the same weekend, and I welcome that. Seven Psychopaths is one of my favorite films of the year. Go see it.


DISCUSS: What did you think of Seven Psychopaths? Did you like In Bruges? Did you like The Guard? What movies would you compare this to? What was your favorite part?

 This is the most action that Colin Farrell has gotten in years.