DVD Reviews

Seven Psychopaths - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jan 30, 2013, 17:33 GMT

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster\'s beloved Shih Tzu. ...more

A frustrated screenwriter works on a script called “Seven Psychopaths.”  What he doesn’t realize is that his inspiration is all around him and he goes on a crazy trip involving a mobster’s kidnapped dog and the crazy consequences surrounding it. 

Marty (Colin Farrell) is trying to finish his screenplay but lack of inspiration… and booze, prevents him from typing “the end.”  His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) is a struggling actor who makes ends meet with is friend Hans (Christopher Walken) whose wife Myra (Linda Bright Clay) is in a cancer unit.  Billy thinks Marty can’t write because of his girlfriend Myra (Abbie Cornish). 

Hans and Billy make some change kidnapping people’s dogs and then later returning them for the rewards.  Hey, it’s a living.  Their latest victim is a Shih Tzu named Bonny.  What they didn’t count on was Bonny’s daddy Charlie (Woody Harrelson), a short tempered gangster who will stop at nothing to get the dog back. 

Meanwhile, the off-kilter Billy has placed an ad in the local paper to have psychopaths come to Marty to tell their stories to give him the psychotic inspiration for the screenplay.  Zachariah (Tom Waits), a quiet, rabbit loving man, can’t wait to tell his tale.  Soon the murderous Charlie has chased down Hans, Billy, and Marty which leads them to run to the desert where Billy is working on an ending to his own internal screenplay. 

Martin McDonagh poured on both the quirk and Colin Farrell in “In Bruges.”  It featured a host of fine performances and a delightful mix of comedy and drama.  Seven Psychopaths tries for the same vibe and accomplishes much of it.  However, it doesn’t rise to that previous film but there are still some great moments.  The premise is based on a writer coming up with the title “Seven Psychopaths” but not really having much but that.  His friend starts out to help him and leads him down a very dark road since all is not what it seems. 

Along the ways he meets both psychopaths and philosophers.  The film is really held together by its leads.  Farrell is the poor sap who can’t get his psychopaths together.  Rockwell is his hyperkinetic best buddy with a not-so-secret secret. 

Walken is the petty crook with the heart of gold.  Harrelson is the deranged mobster who has an undying love for a cute little puppy.  All bring great things to those characters but perhaps Walken pulls it off the best.  There’s a surprising amount of heart in Hans. 

There are even some nice cameos along the way.  What may harm the film a bit is that by the time you think things are wrapping up you’re at the halfway mark.  Since much of Walken’s good stuff happens in that last half I can’t begrudge the length too much. 

Seven Psychopaths is presented in a 1080p transfer (2.39:1).  Special features include the 2 minute “Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths” with the cast talking up the director, the 85 second “Colin Farrell is Marty” about his character, the 84 second “Woody Harrelson is Charlie” about the same, the 2 minute “Crazy Locations” about where the film was shot, the 90 second “Seven Psychocats” has the film recreated with felines, and the 1 minute “Layers” has clips from the film, and you also get an Ultraviolet copy. 

Are there seven?  Are they psychotic?  Well, yes and no but the movie does deliver the eccentricity but also adds a nice bit of heart.  There are some fantastic characters here along with cute puppies.  You’d be crazy not to at least see that amongst the few problems (bit too long, meh special features).

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