SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

My motivation for seeing Seven Psychopaths was simple: I liked In Bruges so much that I just had to see what Martin McDonagh would come up with next. And what he came up with was a different kind of beast. Different enough for me to try to avoid any direct comparison to In Bruges, except to say that casting Colin Farrell for both films was a wise choice.

The characters worth mentioning in Seven Psychopaths are as follows:
-- Farrell, who plays Marty, is a drunk and struggling Irish writer. Yes, that's correct. Martin McDonagh named the main character in his film Marty. And the title to the screenplay Marty is working on just so happens to be "Seven Psychopaths."
-- Sam Rockwell, who plays Billy Bickle, is Marty's BFF and an actor/dog-napper.
-- Christopher Walken, who plays Hans, is Billy's fellow dog-napper. He is the one who returns the dogs for a finder's fee.
-- Woody Harrelson, who plays Charlie, is a gangster with an unhealthy love/addiction for his adorable little Bonny, the Shih Tzu.
-- Bonny, who plays the Shih Tzu named Bonny, is one of the best parts of the film.
-- And Tom Waits who plays Zachariah, is a bunny-lovin' lunatic and another one of the best parts of the film.

The whole film is convoluted in a good way. There are stories within stories. Flashbacks on top of flashbacks. Intertwining real-life relationships mixed in with brainstormed fictional relationships for Marty's screenplay. So I will only offer up some of the highlights: Marty is having a bit of writer's block and Billy decides to help Marty get over this hump. They are BFF's after all. Billy "convinces" Marty to interview real psychopaths so he can use them in his script. Marty isn't particularly keen on the idea, but Billy gets the ball rolling on this idea before giving Marty the chance to protest. Psychopath Zachariah is the first to tell Billy his story with a bunny in hand. His story puts the whole movie into perspective and Waits cuddling up on some bunnies is definitely a sight to see. Then you have Billy and Hans dog-napping Bonny. Of course, Charlie finds out about Bonny's dog-napping and plans revenge against them at any cost. Things get a little dangerous when it comes to Charlie. Imaginations run wild and a fair amount of shenanigans occur, some of which happen in town and some in the desert. All the while, you see a guy called the Jack of Diamonds going around town killing mob men, Marty and his girlfriend going through a tough time, and Bonny staying cute from the beginning of the film to the end. [SPOILER ALERT] If Bonny had been killed in the film, it would have ruined the film for me. The film did not get ruined.

While I'm throwing spoilers out, here are two more:
1. This movie poster will give you the wrong expectations. There are less than seven psychopaths in the film depending on how you define psychopath.

(CBS Films, Inc)

2. Although there are two women on this poster, you aren't going to see much screen time for Abbie Cornish or Olga Kurlyenko.

In fact, the film makes fun of how females rarely do much more than act like imbeciles and get themselves killed in films like this. And in case you somehow missed that point...Hans tells Marty that he has awful female characters in his script. It's true and fairly depressing. It reinforces stereotypes rather than changes them. In this case, I will forgive Martin Donagh for taking the easy way out, mostly because he managed to inject the right amount of unpredictability, fake blood, and humor in this convoluted crime comedy. Seven Psycopaths is self-aware, has a smart little script, and may cause you to search the internet for adorable pictures of Shih Tzus.