Seven Psychopaths

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell’s Marty) as he’s inadvertently lured into a dognapping scheme by his best friend (Sam Rockwell’s Billy) – with problems ensuing after Billy and his partner (Christopher Walken’s Hans) kidnap a local gangster’s (Woody Harrelson’s Charlie) beloved pooch. It’s a decidedly offbeat premise that is, at the outset, employed to watchable yet underwhelming effect by McDonagh, as the filmmaker has infused the proceedings with a hit-and-miss feel that is, for much of the movie’s first half, impossible to comfortably overlook. The inclusion of a few standout sequences (eg Charlie confronts Hans’ dying wife) generally compensates, as does the effectiveness of the various performances (ie Rockwell has never been more entertaining), but the film doesn’t wholeheartedly begin to engross until around the one-hour mark – after which point the narrative’s escalating momentum becomes more and more difficult to resist. The end result is, like In Bruges, an entertainingly erratic effort that receives plenty of mileage out of the actors’ stellar efforts and McDonagh’s crisp dialogue, and it does seem like it’s just a matter of time before McDonagh crafts a film that’s more than just the sum of its parts.

*** out of ****