Viewed in
2012
Formats
Movie theater.
Premise
Colin Ferrell stars as a screenwriter writing a script about psycho killers, suddenly finds himself surrounded by psycho killers.
Loved
Screenwriting inside jokes.
Liked
Fun dark comedy stuff.
Disliked
Over-reliance on flashback plot device.
Thoughts
Once again, shame on marketing for misleading ads. Sold to the masses as a battle royale of quirky killers (aren't they all, post-Pulp Fiction?), think of it as a more violent version of Adaptation.
There were some creative, darkly comedic moments involving said seven psychopaths, my favorite being Tom Waits and his bunny. The Quaker Psycho and Vietnamese Psycho stories were interesting as well. Even the climax, often when plots go auto-pilot, still maintained its invention.
Much like Charlie Kaufman's excellent film, I probably got a bigger kick out of the self-referential/screenwriting inside jokes than the average viewer. My biggest laughs came from the characters trying to hash out their writers block in horribly/hilarious inane ways.
As the lead, Ferrell was low-key, yet fantastic, and carried the film effortlessly. I was glad Christopher Walken got more than just a small creepy role, as his character was very interesting and fleshed out. Quirky performances by Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson also rounded out the cast.
Unfortunately, about halfway in, I knew that this was one of those "the journey is better than the destination" type of movies. It relied on too many dream sequences/flashbacks to provide the quirky/funny moments. Sometimes, the film felt like a lame excuse to string together trippy scenes. Having said that, the majority of the dark, short stories were very enjoyable.
Overall, Seven Psychopaths was a fun, interesting flick, but not as hilarious nor fascinating as Martin McDonagh's first piece, In Bruges.
