7 Pyschopaths (2012)

7 PSYCHOPATHS (R)

"A return to the 90s"

Written & directed by the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh (previously of the excellent Boschian film "In Burges"), 7 Psychopaths is an violently entertaining, if disjointed, look at the creative writing process in modern Hollywood. It defies easy description, but perhaps “Barton Fink” put through a 1990s Quentin Tarantino blender is close. It’s the story o f a script writer (Collin Ferrell) trying to hash out his next script with only a title to start, the titular “7 Psychopaths,” Gradually we are introduced to all of them, each played with flaring eccentricity by one great American Character actor after another: Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Sam Rockwell and his fellow dognapper Christopher Walken. Much of the movie has the typical McDonagh wit and sharp pacing, realistic to the ear and yet wry and very humorous. Much like Barton, Ferrell’s Marty is having a hard time fleshing out his next screenplay, and being using his friends as reference, who feed him stories and scenarios which slowly but surely begin to bleed into real life. The movie is both disjointed and repetitious in ceratin parts, but the absolute joy of Walken’s screen time does make up for it. Add to that Rockwell and Harrellson’s manic antagonism, a twisted Vietnam war subplot and Waits’ bizarre rabbit fueled gravitas and you end up with a cinematic blended smoothie all its own. Perhaps not the most nutritious meal, and not to everyone’s tastes, but satisfying and filling none the less.

 7 cravats out of 10 (GOOD)