Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths is an ensemble movie done right.  It had some pacing issues but overall I really enjoyed it.  There's a whole movie (technically movie script) within a movie thing going on that gets a little too wink, wink... aren't we so meta and hilarious! But luckily it didn't derailed the rest of the film.  In fact, at times it turned out to be pretty clever. 

The story is...well...ok, so Colin Farrell plays Marty, a struggling screenwriter who drinks way too much and is having issues with his latest script called...Seven Psychopaths.  (Wink, wink #1)  His buddy, Billy Bickle (not Travis Bickle but he does talk to himself in a mirror at one point -wink, wink #2), played by Sam Rockwell, is a struggling actor who makes his money borrowing dogs and returning them for the reward money.  Billy's partner in the dog borrowing business is Hans, played by Christopher Walken.  Hans's wife, Myra, has breast cancer and is in the hospital.  Their relationship is adorable by the way.  He's just so dang cute with her.  Anywhoodle, Billy and Hans steal a local mobster's dog (the local mobster is played by Woody Harrelson) and all hell breaks loose.  Well, sort of.  Here's where my pacing issue comes into play.  The first half of the movie, while clever, funny and filled with action, felt slow.  The three guys, while headed off to the desert to escape the angry mobster who just wants his dog back, actually talk about what the second half of the script should be like.  Marty thinks it should be our main characters sitting around and talking.  Billy thinks there needs to be a big shootout.  So what happens in the second half of the movie?  Well you have to go see it to see, but it's wink, wink #3. 

There are lots of stories being told with lots of different characters but somehow it all kind of works.  There's tons of violence and most of it is pretty cartoonish but somehow it all kind of works.  Everyone in the movie is unstable and odd but somehow it all kind of works.  I laughed, I cringed (you're supposed to), and I wanted more.  Actually, the one thing that would have made this an incredibly fantastic movie would have been a bit more explanation of the friendship between Marty and Billy.  They're completely and totally loyal to each other when most people would have cut and run. I would have liked to have seen why or how they got there.  Other than that, I was pretty dang pleased with Seven Psychopaths. 

The writing was good, the directing was great, the acting was phenomenal, and the dog totally stole the movie.  She was too cute.  Christopher Walken kinda stole the movie too but in a good way and not in a, "Hey, Walken's in this flick" way.  If that makes any sense.

If you've seen and liked In Bruges then you'll like this one too.  Writer/director Martin McDonagh actually seems to be scoring with this genre of violent, black comedies where Guy Ritchie has fallen short.  I hope he always works with Farrell too.  Not many directors can get these looks on that face:

Seven Psychopaths

In Bruges