Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2012) Review

It seems that every year there is a film that it seems I'm the only one who saw it. 2010 had The A-Team, 2011 had Limitless and now 2012 has Seven Psychopaths. The biggest surprise initially was that this is actually a British film...yeah, this film that has a (primarily) all American cast and is set in America with American themes...made by Film4. Pretty damn surprising. Well, let's take a look at this underdog of a film.

Struggling script-writer Marty (Colin Farrell) is trying to write a narrative about seven psychopaths. His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) goes out of his way in order to gather together psychopaths to give Marty inspiration for his screenplay. Billy works with a pacifist named Hans (Christopher Walken) in a scam which involves kidnapping dogs and giving them back for rewards. Things take a turn for the worst when he steal a Shih Tzu named Bonny who just happens to be owned by a mobster named Charlie (Woody Harrelson) who will do whatever it takes to get his dog back. Now Marty is caught up in a war between Billy and Charlie.

The highest honour I can five this film is that this has some excellent writing. The great writing is also helped by some excellent acting specifically from Farrell and Rockwell. It has some of the most sincere talking in a recent film. There are also some fantastic moments (one near the beginning is especially good) and easily one of the funniest scenes of 2012 (thank you Christopher Walken). The film is excellent at having mood whip-lashing since one scene with have you laughing while the next will be a scene that's borderline tear jerking.

It's not exactly an innovative film. Sure the writing is very well done but there isn't much here that's a game changer. Is it a good film? Yeah but it's not exactly going to sway anyone over. It will probably fade into obscurity but it will leave a small impact mostly down to the great characters and genius writing. The plot may sound a bit ridiculous but it comes together nicely.

While Seven Psychopaths isn't exactly going to rock the movie world, I imagine it's going to hit cult status once it's released on DVD. Some excellent writing and a top notch cast helps make one of the underdogs of the year. I'm glad I saw it and implore that you see it at least once when it comes to DVD. It's not exactly Oscar bait but sometimes a film doesn't have to be, it just has to be engaging.

Verdict:
8/10
One of the best examples of an original film of 2012. The top notch writing, while helped by the actors, makes an enjoyable enough film.