Review: ‘Seven Psychopaths’

Films about people writing films are not that rare, but this is certainly the bloodiest one I can remember seeing, outdoing even Barton Fink for death count.

Colin Farrell plays Marty, and Irish screenwriter with an alcohol problem and a script with nothing but a title – Seven Psychopaths. Marty wants to make a Bhuddist film from this title, something his somewhat unstable best friend Billy says – probably quite rightly – is insane. But as a loyal friend he is all too willing to help Marty out with his script.

Billy’s also the sidekick of Hans, who makes a good living out of dognapping. But things go more than a little pear-shaped for everyone when Billy snatches a shih tzu, Bonny, who belongs to the seriously crazy mob boss Jimmy Costello.

And this is just the so-called real life part of the film.

Interspersed with this is the equally insane world of Marty’s film and the stories he hears and interprets as part of it. In this alternate reality we have a Vietnamese priest with a bomb, a stunning hooker, a Quaker with a straight razor, and a self-confessed psycho who carries a white rabbit everywhere he goes.

By using the script-writing as a framework, McDonagh pushes the boundaries and ups the body count. Ideas spin into scenes and there are points where it’s unclear what’s real and what’s not. But it doesn’t really matter because you’ll be laughing too hard to care. Because this is, first and foremost, a comedy. Blacker than black, but a comedy nonetheless.

This isn’t a film you want to read too much about before going in. It’s not a film to tear apart or analyse – you’ll probably be disappointed if you do. It’s a film to surrender to. Christopher Walken’s performance alone is worth the price of admission, and when you add Sam Rockwell’s cheerily demented Billy to the mix, well, you can’t really go wrong. And did I mention Harry Dean Stanton is in it too? And Tom Waits? Yeah, it’s seriously that nuts! I loved every minute of it.

9/10