Seven Psychopaths

I think I might know a little something about psychopaths. Living in downtown Austin gives you plenty of opportunities to run into some off the wall people. Just recently I saw some rough looking lady struggling with her random assortment of tube shaped and fat filled Hostess pastries while trying to leave the counter at the gas station. So as she dropped one I naturally bent down to pick it up for her and she just absolutely lost it! “Don’t touch my food mf’er! Get the $#@* away from me you 4 eyed bald headed $@#*! You want to help somebody out, help your wife mf’er!” And my immediate response was “um…im not married”. Of course I was smart enough not to say that out loud because this chick looked like the nappy headed hos that Don Imus was talking about and I didn’t want her pulling out a shank on me.  So needless to say, based off of this Seven Psychopaths had a lot to live up to.

If you know anything about the writer/director Martin Mcdonagh, who also directed the surprisingly clever In Bruges, then you know to expect snappy dialogue, a decent story, a few shoot out scenes, and a Walkmen song or two thrown in. And this movie for the most part delivers just that. I must admit though that when I saw ads for this movie above  urinals alongside Bobby Holmes the real estate agent and Perfect 10 ads, that  I was a bit worried.  That’s typically a recipe for disaster or an STD; either way  I wouldn’t pay $10 for it.  But I’m glad I stepped up to this movie. It’s about Colin Farrell who is a screenplay writer who is not only struggling with writer’s block but he may or may not also have a drinking problem (I swear I didn’t make that part up). His latest movie is going to be about seven psychopaths and he is literally grasping at anything for ideas; even stealing ideas from his best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell). Billy is an oddball who steals dogs from the dog park and returns them to their owners just to collect the Found Dog reward money. He tries his best to be a part of the screenwriting process by not only feeding ideas to Farrell but by placing an ad for ex or current psychos to come tell their story. This leads to a great flashback scene involving Tom Wait’s character who is a psycho from the old school. It shows him and his wife going on a pretty twisted killing spree with some cool gags to boot. 

But as more and more weirdos get introduced into Farrell’s life, the more his life takes on the form of his movie.  Or is it the movie that is becoming a reflection of his life? It’s actually a little of both but the problem lies in the fact that Farrell’s character (and in turn Mcdonagh) doesn’t want to write another typical shoot em up psychopath movie. He would rather take on an entirely new angle where they actually talk everything out in the end. And that is exactly what happens for most of the second half of this movie. The first hour is an awesome set up with every character’s life being somehow connected to the others.  And by the time Mcdonagh reveals how everyone is connected he gets you pumped up and believing that a bad ass show down is about to happen.  But then, it just doesn’t. ..well it sort of does but not really. I’ll leave the ending for you to experience for yourself. The best part of the second half occurs in a total improvisational scene where Billy is going over all the possible endings for their showdown. Sam Rockwell nails this scene and honestly owns this entire movie.  But you leave the theater wishing that Billy’s version is what actually played out as opposed to the begrudgingly pseudo violent ending which leaned towards being more philosophical than anything. 

Actually the longer this movie sits with me, the more I am liking it. It’s just that you know this could have been an instant classic had Mcdonagh simply gave you what you wanted but I respect him for throwing caution to the wind and trying something different. None of the psychos are too over the top and you are given just enough backstory to where you actually care about everyone who appears on screen.  It's just that  he could have at least ended it with something stupid like “You chose the wrong path…psycho!” Well, unlike that one liner, this movie is BARELY FRESH! Check check it out.