You have got to love a movie that separates itself from the tiring stereotypes of virtually every other film like it. Sometimes it is simply too easy to pick overused ideas and change into your own creation. We like to see original works of art from people that are willing to go that extra mile to be unique, to be special. One way that comedies tend to do this is by making a movie ridiculous, which is a huge risk; they would have to get everything right. “Seven Psychopaths” is one of these unique films that deserve to be seen at least once.
Colin Farrell plays an alcoholic screenwriter named Marty. Marty has been struggling with his latest screenplay called “Seven Psychopaths” He mostly struggled on trying to create these psychopaths that don’t fall into the category of stereotypical Hollywood garbage, but rather are unique and different, something people might actually like. So he and his friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) brainstorm different ideas for these psychopaths. All the while Billy and Hans (Christopher Walken) run a business of kidnapping dogs and acting innocent as they return the dogs for a cash reward, one day they kidnap the wrong dog from the wrong owner. Charlie (Woody Harrelson) loves his Shih Tzu Bonnie, and when she is kidnapped, he vowed to kill her captors.
What’s so interesting about this film is that before seeing it, you think these seven so-called psychopaths are what this movie is about, but there are two main stories at play. The first being the story about Marty and the other is his screenplay. Both go hand in hand, because unbeknownst to Marty; his book is loosely based on a true story, thanks to the input that his friends have given him. You know what else? You get a good idea of how the whole movie will play out by the end, and it’s not too shabby of a film on its own. In that regards, the movie is actually pretty smart.
It is also pretty smart because it took a monumental risk that most filmmakers are too cowardly to try. They gave a comedic film ridiculousness and it held up. A lot of the movie is nonsense as these people just ramble on about random things that don’t seem to do with anything else, but it makes sense in a way. Remember the entire premise of “Seinfeld”? It was a television show about nothing, and each episode included a number of actors rambling on about nothing that danced to the tune of an episodic arc. The same can be said here. The overall arc was about this villain trying to get his dog back, because he loves that dog. It’s so ridiculous, but it fit the overall vibe the film gave off. Then these friends try to complete the screenplay before they all end up dying in an end-of-the-movie shootout. Again, completely bonkers, but it matches the vibe.
The comedy in the movie is only hilarious if you are a fan of random and dark humor. The look and the feel of the movie is lighter, but all of the jokes tend to revolve around death. Basically, if you were a fan of “Seinfeld” and tend to like dark humor, then there is a good chance that you are going to have a great time watching this film. If not, you could still enjoy it because the movie does have a lot to offer, but it still isn’t for everyone.
Visually speaking, there isn’t a ton of gore throughout the film, but when it happens, it really happens. Imagine a young child that only has a red crayon coloring in a person in a coloring book, and that person was cut out and brought to life, you would get a good idea of how one victim in the film looked like.
“Seven Psychopaths” comes to Blu-Ray and DVD on Jan. 29!
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