Review of Seven Psychopaths (2012) by Jonathan B — 17 Feb 2014

A blackly comic oddity that I found really engaging, Seven Psychopaths is a really strangely plotted film. It follows the story of Marty, a struggling screen writer played by Colin Farrell. His quirky best friend, Billy (the excellent Sam Rockwell) tries to help him out by telling him wild stories about maniacal psychopaths that Marty can weave into the plot of his latest movie script.

In the meantime, in partnership with pensioner Hans (Christopher Walken) Billy is mixdd up with a money making racket in which they kidnap dogs and then claim the reward money when the dog owners realise they are missing.

Things go badly wrong when they kidnap a Shih Tzu owned by a particularly nasty gangster who sets out to gain his revenge. The plot then becomes increasingly convoluted and self-referencing making for an interestingly curios tale.

There's some gory scenes, especially as we see the wild imaginings of Billy, but these are really quite funny in a Grand Guignol manner and you do tend to get swept along with it all. Walken is always a fascinating actor to watch and here he plays his role with a mixture of human warmth and cold, steely-eyed menace that is so wonderful to see.

Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson step up to the mark in their roles but for me it is Sam Rockwell who steals the show. He is quite simply brilliant as the unhinged and manic Billy who talks ten to the dozen and has a warped grasp on reality.

This isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but as a movie I just happened to stumble across it was certainly worth a couple of hours to watch.