7 Psychopaths (Review)

Terrible tag line by the way.

Terrible tag line by the way.

Billy (Sam Rockwell) is stupid. He is tactless, thoughtless and often ignorant of others. One of his most interesting traits is when asked to repeat his previous sentence he repeats it EXACTLY, with the same cadence, wording and even voice inflection. It was only when he did this for the second time that I realised I have never heard anyone do anything quite like it before.

… Back to stupid though. Billy is indeed stupid, but to this point it has never seen him killed, not even nearly.

Billy makes a living kidnapping dogs at the local park and holding them in a large warehouse until he sees a ‘lost dog’ notice offering a reward, at which point older gent Hal (Christopher Walken) is called in to return the dog and collect the reward / ransom, after which he splits it with his ailing wife and of course Billy.

It’s a harmless scheme. The dogs are treated well, the owners get their beloved pets back, and Billy and Hal make a few bucks. Harmless that it, until Billy dognaps the wrong Shih-tzu named Bonnie

Billy has a friend in Marty (Colin Farrell), an aspiring screenwriter held back by the unfortunate combo that is a lack of inspiration and chronic alcoholism.

Now the truth is that none of these three seem particularly psychotic on the surface – OK maybe Billy – but this is where Marty’s screenplay comes in. He is writing a script entitled ‘Seven Psychopaths’, well in reality he is trying to, having only the title and the mildest of outlines for one of the psychos.

Billy thinks he can help Marty if he only stops drinking for a while, Hal even thinks he can have some input. Meanwhile unbeknownst to them all Charlie (Woody Harrelson) is an actual functioning psycho who loves his little doggie. Really loves his little doggie. And is summoning his forces to track it down and enact revenge on those responsible.

Seven Psychopaths is far more layered and complicated than In Bruges, with none of the standout scenes and low key cleverness that made that a minor classic. In fact the line between what is real and what is the trio discussing script ideas becomes blurred at some points, with the director obviously believing this is all delightfully meta.

For mine it was a little unnecessarily convoluted and at times bordering on try-hard. The film is worth watching though, thanks to the performances. Sam Rockwell steals it as Billy, playing a simple man who wants to believe life is a movie. He is ably supported by Farrell and Walken, who both stay low key – or at least as low key as the Walken persona will allow.

There are several other performances that rate as little more than cameos, with Harrelson obviously having the biggest impact as the larger than life Charlie.

Final Rating – 7 / 10. Seven Psychopaths is violent, profane and original. While it lacks the impact the unassuming In Bruges had, it is nonetheless worth checking out, and represents two for two for Martin McDonagh, the director of both.

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
This entry was posted in Film, Movie Reviews, Worthwhile Movies. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.