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Four years have passed since Irish playwright Martin McDonagh made his feature-length debut In Bruges which has gained cult status as one of the funniest and darkest dramas… to be set in Bruges. After his first America-set play A Behanding in Spokane, McDonagh’s return to cinema looks into Hollywood screenwriting, in a funny and fittingly psychopathic crime caper.
Living in Los Angeles, Irish alcoholic Marty Faranan (Colin Farrell) struggles to finish his script “Seven Psychopaths”. When his best friend Billy Bickle (Sam Rockwell), an unemployed actor and part-time dog thief, and his partner-in-crime Hans (Christopher Walken) steal the Shih Tzu of a gangster (Woody Harrelson), the three go on the run in which Marty finds inspiration for his screenplay.
With a plot that’s fairly more mainstreamed and Tarantino-ish, the film is not quite what the advertisements are showing. Whilst In Bruges was an intimate character piece of two hitmen who fall into violent and hilarious situations, Seven Psychopaths is more slapdash in terms of the character interactions that are fairly outlandish. What it lacks from McDonagh’s previous black comedy is strangely, an emotional heart as the protagonists and antagonists are basically oddballs which indeed have their moments of hilarity such as McDonagh’s sharp dialogue.
Despite the main crux of the dognapping plot, the real flashes of brilliance lie within Marty’s struggles and eventually inspirations on writing his script. From factual stories Marty hears and ideas from Billy and Hans, we see the film within the film which shows the lives of the seven psychopaths, which can be perceived as weird but moving. In the film’s funniest sequence, Billy tells his two compatriots his ideal climax on the script, being an over-the-top bloody shootout, of which he hopes to be reinterpreted in his actual situation with Marty and Hans.
Having displayed his comedic talent in In Bruges, Colin Farrell retains that here as the Irish screenwriter who has a drinking problem of which he denies. However, it is his two friends-in-crime that are the real standouts as Sam Rockwell who is perhaps the top psychopath of the story, while Christopher Walken is at his best in years as the tragic figure whose past was a violent one. While there is a cameo from Tom Waits who is always top mumbling form, the female cast is understated although there is a nice gag regarding that flaw in Marty’s script.
Nowhere near as good as In Bruges, but Martin McDonagh is still a fresh voice that cannot be ignored as Seven Psychopaths is a hugely entertaining comedy with flashes of brilliance, and a cute Shih Tzu.
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