Seven Psychopaths

It’s tough to diagnose a genre for movies like Seven Psychopaths. I can come up with similar titles that deal with the same sort of thing, but not a genre. Let’s call them shoot ‘em up comedies dealing with interweaving flawed characters. Ahh, problem solved. Seven Psychopaths follows Colin Farrell, a struggling screenwriter who accidentally finds himself in a conflict with a dangerous criminal (Woody Harrelson) after his friends (Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken) steal the criminal’s dog. This seems like a situation that could easily be remedied by returning the dog, but that doesn’t quite work because, you guessed it, many of the characters are psychotic.

Playing his usually seedy character in the film’s first half, Sam Rockwell emerges as the stand out performance of the movie. His quirky ticks lead to bigger issues that come out later, but to come across in a serious way while the majority of his lines are comic in nature, shows Rockwell’s understanding of the script and his ability to guide the film. Farrell plays the clueless common guy most of the time, which is a bit disappointing. He’s played crazy so well (Horrible Bosses) that it’s half expected that he show something before the end.

At times, the film’s dialogue reaches great heights with its thematic and witty nature. Though it does suffer at times due to a script that (excuse the critic cliché) insists upon itself. Ideas of vigilante justice and the sane battling the insane are so prominent that the concepts trip over themselves. Similar movies have weaved a better web in terms of the story coming full circle. Then when the audience learns that some of the characters are fictional ideas and not part of the film, I can’t help but feel a bit cheated. Seven Psychopaths is interesting, but falls short of the expectations of the” shoot ‘em up comedies dealing with interweaving flawed characters” genre. I need to trademark that.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.