“Quick mini review first. Since I was already behind, I skipped the #Rothtober film today and ended up watching something outta my queue. The film was Red Lights. Cillian Murphy, Robert DeNiro, Signourney Weaver, Elizabeth Olsen. I take back what I’d said about DeNiro not being able to pick a good movie in this century. My kinda weird and really absorbing. Normally when I watch something at home, I’m tooling on the internet, but I dropped the laptop (not literally dropped). So yeah, check this out. I need to watch it again.
Anyways, I’m really here to write up yesterday’s second feature, Seven Psycopaths. I didnt know a whole lot about it going in, but I didnt really need to. Sam Rockwell is on my list of actors who I will see in anything. No questions asked. Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken are all icing. Hell, in all honesty, I think the title was really enough to make me wanna see this.
But besides the amazing cast, and all of the fun promos they’re doing (no really, click that link if you’re reading this directly off ExpDel), the buzz is building around writer/director Martin McDonagh. McDonagh hasn’t done much quantity wise, but quality wise, oh man. He won himself an Oscar for his short, Six Shooter. Then another Oscar nod and a lot more widespread notice for his first feature, In Bruges, which also won Farrell a Globe. Yeah, remember that one? You certainly would if you saw it. Dark gangster comedy. Hilarious until it pulls the rug out from under ya. Psycopaths was a lot like that too.
I’ve commented/complained about how often dark comedies don’t quite get the right mix of dark and comedy. Too much of one, not enough of the other. Seven Psycopaths nailed it. You’re laughing thru the whole thing, but something just feels dirty, and it’s a dirty that feels oh so \m/ good. I have not heard such clever dialogue (my make or break aspect of a film) in a long time. I’m talking Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Diablo Cody level dialogue. But it wouldnt have been anything without the cast delivering it. I dont mean to play favorites, but OMG Sam Rockwell. I love watching an actor let loose and have fun, and that’s exactly what was happening here. Big doofy grin and he just took a bite outta all those words.
Rockwell wasn’t the only star. Christopher Walken was another joy to watch. In my mind, there’s this idea of Christopher Walken, as a kind of a charicature. The funny pauses, the weird pronunciations. But it seems you never actually see that from him on screen. Yet, here we did. It was Walken just as I’d always pictured him, and totally having a blast throughout. Woody Harrelson was the unhinged bad guy psycopath. The role was originally supposed to go to Mickey Rourke, but I dont see how that could have worked. Rourke has a more quiet and controlled badassery to him. Harrelson is more out of control, which is what this movie benefit from. If you’re gonna be the baddest of the bad psycopaths, you gotta make me believe that you could snap at any moment, and that’s exactly what was going on here.
As much fun as this was, I do gotta deduct half a point sadly. I was confused through a good deal of the movie. I blame the marketing for a lot of that. The posters and such indicated that certain people are the seven psycopaths. That’s not necessarily the case. There were some other plot points that had me scratching my head, especialy around character motive, but most stems from the marketing. I’m sure it’d regain that half point on a subesquent view.
Seven Psycopaths – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n