Seven Psychopaths (2012) Review

Director: Martin McDonagh

Starring: Colin Farrell (Marty Faranan), Sam Rockwell (Billy Bickle), Woody Harrelson (Charlie Costello), Christopher Walken (Hans Kieslowski)

If you’ve heard of this movie before, then you already know that the title is slightly misleading. I mean, the plot does involve several characters that can be considered to be psychotic but the number doesn’t quite reach seven. Nor is this a low-budget (low-quality) slasher film. Instead, it both a gangster movie and a dark comedy.

Instead, the title “Seven Psychopaths” comes from a fictional screenplay Marty Faranan is working on throughout the course of this film. Meanwhile, his actor friend Billy has been running a dognapping scam on the side with an old quaker named Hans. In this scam, they kidnap an unsuspecting person’s cat and return it for the reward money. Only, they end up kidnapping the Shih Tzu of local mobster Charlie Costello. As a result, Marty gets caught up in all the madness.

Admittedly, the above description makes the plot seem a bit farcical. And in fact, it is. The overall plot is quite rediculous; however, this rediculousness is quickly offset by the witty dialogue of McDonagh’s screenplay and the performances of those delivering said dialogue. Also, as funny as this movie is, there’s also a couple of highly emotional scenes (such as anything involving Hans’ wife). If anything, the biggest drawback of the movie would be the frequent portrayals of Faranan’s script. I, personally, didn’t have a problem with them but it’s debatable whether or not they were needed. Not to mention, that could make the movie very confusing if you turned it on during one of those scenes. So in other words, I recommend you watch the movie; just make sure to watch it from the beginning.