Seven Psychopaths
(2012) – In Bruges was a
delightful surprise, marketed as a gangster comedy but actually a contemplative
take on guilt with a stellar script.
With Seven Psychopaths, Martin
McDonagh is at it again with another thoughtful film, though its slow burn
might not appeal to everyone. Colin
Farrell stars as a screenwriter suffering from a creative block, while Sam
Rockwell and Christopher Walken play dognappers who cross gangster Woody
Harrelson by abducting his Shih Tzu. The
marketing bills this movie as a wacky slapstick action comedy, but the result
is something much more sincere, a metafictional take on stories and
endings. But along the way, McDonagh doesn’t
forget to let his cast have fun; Walken proves himself the king of the
stammered non sequitur with many hilarious lines and outbursts, while no one
does increasingly unhinged like Sam Rockwell.
I’m inclined to label the movie “smart” because of the way it’s
structured, calling back to previous scenes and letting the audience figure certain
plot details out without spoonfeeding them, but then there’s a legitimate
problem with the film’s female characters.
There aren’t many of them, and all of them either take their clothes off
or get killed (or both); the film seems aware of this when Farrell’s character
is chastised for the poor quality of the female characters in his screenplay –
another moment of clever metafictional play – but I’m not sure that
self-awareness lets one off the hook, and indeed it might even exacerbate a
problem by calling attention to it without attempting to rectify it. But compelling if problematic, Seven Psychopaths manages to entertain,
which in the final analysis is really all I ask of a film.Happy New Year! That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the Double-Oh-Seventh of the month (and boy is it a doozy)!
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