Before even thinking about venturing over to see Seven Psychopaths, which you should do NEXT since I know you all took my advice and saw Looper, you need to watch another fantastic movie first: In Bruges. In Bruges is one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. It's one of the most clever, funny, well-written, well-shot, well-acted, overall films I've ever seen. At the writing slash directing helm of both of these gems is Martin McDonaugh. These are the only two major pictures he's done minus some shorts he's worked on for other projects. He's a little bit Shane Black, a little bit Guy Ritchie and a lot bit genius. The guy can intricately yet delicately weave in comedy, drama, sadness, pleasure, and outright gore into one movie and you don't want to ever see it end. Once you get a feel for McDonaugh's style with In Bruges, then you can scamper on over to your local viewing hole and watch Seven Psychopaths all the more excited for what you are about to witness.
I like when a director and a leading actor can find a certain chemistry that makes them work well together in order to lead to the entire film being stronger. Scorsese has DiCaprio. Rian Johnson has Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Ridley Scott has Russell Crowe. Tony Scott had Denzel (or should that be the other way around? Too soon?) McDonaugh has Colin Farrell. Now, Colin Farrell can be kind of a campy actor that either like or dislike. I don't think there's anyone out there whose just neutral on the guy. His career started off kinda funky with high movies like Minority Report and The Recruit and low movies like Daredevil and SWAT. However you feel about the guy, he really shines when he's allowed to be his ol' Irish self and let loose in a Martin McDonaugh penned script. Farrell, who can tend to be a weak link in his films, really is the icing on the cake-- the rubber band that holds the entire film together.
Here, he plays Marty, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter attempting to finish his latest screenplay idea entitled: Seven Psychopaths. However, he's stuck. He's only got one psychopath idea for the script which turns out to be not even his idea at all... just a story he heard whilst intoxicated and forgot wasn't his. His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) spends his days as a dog-kidnapper with extremely religious partner Hans (Christopher Walken) in order to reap the reward money once they return the kidnapped dogs. Unfortunately, this time they dognapped a Shih-Tzu from dog-loving gangster psychopath Charlie (Woody Harrelson), who will do anything and kill anybody to get his dog back. Lucky for Marty, this is all perfect fodder for his screenplay.
That's the "plot" like reading No Fear Shakespeare is reading Hamlet. It nowhere near encompasses all of the beauty and complexities of the real thing. The interwoven story lines, the connections of each psychopath and who each one ends up being are all what really drive the movie. There are moments of true heart with earnest scenes between Hans and his dying wife. There are moments of true shock (pretty much when ANYONE in the movie is killed). And, above all, there are moments of pure hilarity. The writing and the dialogue are so crisp and delicious, it's difficult to not be upset when the end credits start to roll.
It's also incredibly meta. The movie is so self-aware, its as if McDonaugh was writing it while holding his mansack and flipping the bird to Hollywood action stereotypes. It's a commentary about how the rigid structure of American action films have become so concrete, they're basically carbon copies of each other. McDonaugh uses the character of Billy to try and persuade Marty to write his screenplay in epic Michael Bay fashion with shoot-outs and car chases and all that, when all Billy wants to do is write a movie that, at the end of the day is about peace... a movie called Seven Psychopaths. It's Adaptation on crack.
While Farrell is the anchor of the boat, the crew have much to offer as well. Sam Rockwell plays Billy, one of the psychopaths, almost as a dog. He's cute, he's cuddly, he's not too bright, but if he gets backed into a corner he'll attack. He's also surprisingly loyal to Marty. Tom Waits is great as the bunny-cuddling psychopath there to tell his psychotic past stories to Marty in order to help him with his script. Woody Harrelson is great because even though his entire motivation is to get back his one true love, his dog, he's still a terrifying gangster capable of anything. But, it's Christopher Walken, surprisingly restrained, that steals the show. Hans is essentially the voice of reason. The psychopath who found God, who sits back unafraid as the rest of these morons do exactly the dumb stuff he knows they're going to do. And as Hans, Walken is perfect.
Seven Psychopaths is one of my top five favorite movies of the year. It's one damn entertaining movie. The seemingly-mundane conversations are reminiscent of early Tarantino. There will literally be just a conversation (such as the brilliant opening scene of the film), yet it reveals everything about the characters having it. McDonaugh doesn't just go for the cheap laugh, his writing has purpose. And it succeeds in every way possible.
A
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