*Promotional Poster for Seven Psychopaths*
Seven Psychopaths is about Marty and his friend Billy. Marty is working on a screenplay, or at least attempting to flesh out the final narrative for a screen play, and his friend Billy spends his time stealing dogs with his partner in crime, Hans. Marty played by Colin Farrell can be seen as the gear that keeps the clock turning in this film, his character anchor's every other events and his inspiration, which should come from everything occurring around him, seems poised to traumatize or even ruin his life more than double as a muse for his writings. The screen play he is currently working on is even more compromised when about half way through the film it is revealed that Hans, a quirky character played by Christopher Walken discloses that Marty's character his screenplay focuses on is in fact based upon his life experiences, as Marty had borrowed the idea from his friend Billy who told him said story in the first place. This takes away all writing credibility from Farrells character, and places the movies interest on the shoulders of it's resident lunatic "Billy" played by Sam Rockwell.
Review Score Card:
Overall: 6 out of 10 - Doesn't live up to expectations despite strong buzz,
For what it's worth, a film like Seven Psychopaths should be cult status guaranteed in a few years time; however, while an entertaining entry into another world of dark and twisted personas, the movie seems more like a collection of odd and interesting moments held together by a grim plot than a classic title worthy of a second viewing.
*WARNING: There may be spoilers ahead.
Seven Psychopaths is about Marty and his friend Billy. Marty is working on a screenplay, or at least attempting to flesh out the final narrative for a screen play, and his friend Billy spends his time stealing dogs with his partner in crime, Hans. Marty played by Colin Farrell can be seen as the gear that keeps the clock turning in this film, his character anchor's every other events and his inspiration, which should come from everything occurring around him, seems poised to traumatize or even ruin his life more than double as a muse for his writings. The screen play he is currently working on is even more compromised when about half way through the film it is revealed that Hans, a quirky character played by Christopher Walken discloses that Marty's character his screenplay focuses on is in fact based upon his life experiences, as Marty had borrowed the idea from his friend Billy who told him said story in the first place. This takes away all writing credibility from Farrells character, and places the movies interest on the shoulders of it's resident lunatic "Billy" played by Sam Rockwell. 
What should've been the best role Rockwell has ever done in a film, feels like more of a forced and goofy version of every other crazy psychopathic killer to come out of a major Hollywood production; lowering the seriousness of his characters convictions into a raving mad parody for writers of all kinds to indulge in. To say Rockwell's character, and the movie on a whole is aimed towards critics and movie buffs is an understatement. It doesn't sell itself short on originality because of it though, it just does the job in too many different ways. Throw in Woody Harrison as Charlie Costello, the mad man whose dog Billy steals to set the whole films tone, along with Tom Waits being as crazy-eccentric as usual, and you have a full plate that more than needs to shave off some of it's servings.
What hurts this film the worst is the inability to feel any pity for the characters involved, and the screenplay Marty works on is hands down more interesting than the film itself. Christopher Walken puts on one of the best roles he's had in years, only to see it undersold by the rest of the movies gimmick driven story. If you want to laugh at everyone involved, or have a dark and twisted enough sense of humor, the movie would probably be more than an enjoyable watch for you, otherwise, sympathy is hard to come by as virtually no one in the cast has done or does anything that gives you any reason to care, aside from Myra, Han's lover, being killed; which may provide just a shred of sympathy for Hans character, despite his bad deeds and checkered past.
All in all Seven Psychopaths is a decent watch that falls short of many higher expectations set in place by it's great cast and unique premise. Writing a review for this movie isn't easy given it's a complicated, dark, gritty, goofy, twisted, stylistic, almost noir like feature with a broad range of actors, but again, that didn't end up equaling greatness and rather caused the movie itself to buckle under the weight of both expectation and exceptional storytelling. It falls into a newly growing abyss of dark cult comedies and stylish pieces that miss the mark by just enough to be forgotten, yet just loud enough to stick around for a bit. Watch if you like movies of it's nature, otherwise avoid.
Check out the trailer for Seven Psychopaths below!
Review Score Card:
Storyline: Aggressive, complicated yet simple, drawn out and not very
interesting more often than not.
Characters: Quirky, the driving force behind the film, very hit or miss.
Pacing: Not good, not bad, too much a mix of too many different ideas.
Interest Level: Worth a watch if you're into bizarre and unique character driven
films; avoid if you don't want to be flabbergasted.
Overall: 6 out of 10 - Doesn't live up to expectations despite strong buzz,
strong performances, but characters can be less likable than
needed given what this unique dark comedy demands.
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