Crossing Paths

A few years ago, In Bruges, a humorous take on the hitman film gained cult status with viewers and high marks from critics. Now director Martin McDonagh has reteamed with Collin Farrell (as well as an even wilder supporting cast) to once again mine comedic gold from the action thriller genre. In his latest, Seven Psychopaths, McDonagh throws a lot at you and even when if it's not always coherent, it's consistently entertaining.

This is not the type of film that can easily be summarized in a simple sentence. What you should know is that there are a pair of two-bit crooks (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) who kidnap dogs in order to return them and cash in on the reward. The scam is effective until they steal the Shiz Tsu of an unbalanced mob boss (played by Woody Harrelson) who will stop at nothing to get his precious pooch back. Farrell, who is also friends with Rockwell, is a struggling screenwriter who's working on a new film, conveniently named Seven Psychopaths. His efforts to write that film provide a meta-narrative throughout the movie as we discover which of these characters are actually psychopaths. Here that may sound confusing, but discovering who the psychopaths are in the film is a lot of fun

A movie like this is truly a film lover's dream. On one level you've got a lot of terrific actors hamming it up here. Rockwell has played this loose cannon character before, but still finds way to make it feel fresh and engaging. And it's a joy to see Christopher Walken just be his usual self on the big screen again. The man's acting style though often parodied and imitated, is uniquely his own and he once again steals the show here.

These actors are also able to give fine performances because of the script that they are working from. In addition to having a lot of funny lines, the screenplay is filled with incisive commentary on the screenwriting process. At one point, the characters talk about the difficulty in writing decent roles for women and then we see throughout this film that the female characters are underwritten and barely have a presence in the film.

Being in the mindset of a psychopath does have it drawbacks when it comes to story construction. The film's narrative can often be as schizophrenic as the characters it represents. The film goes off on a lot of tangents that never really seem to fully connect to the central story. For as funny and or engaging as these tangents are, they can also be equally frustrating as you try to make sense of everything.
Quentin Tarantino's success with films like Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction produced a lot of check knock-offs that could not match the sheer bravado he displayed on the screen. With this film, however, McDonagh has succeeed whether others have failed. This is quite the gonzo trip of wisecracks and gore. I can guarantee that if the film sounded at all intriguing to you that you will be highly entertained by this.

Seven Psychopaths may not have mass appeal, but is nothing short of a success. I never thought I could associate myself with anyone who could be known as a psychopath, but I would gladly enjoy watching more adventures with this group of psychos anytime. If you're looking for a bloody good time, then Seven is your lucky number. Grade: B+