It’s doubtful that writer Martin McDonagh has ever suffered from writer’s block, but his latest film SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (MA) has a screenwriter suffering from such a malaise.

Marty Faranan, played by Colin Farrell, is an Irish screenwriter living in Los Angeles. The deadline for his latest screenplay has passed and he is hitting the bottle more often than his laptop.

Like everyone in LA, a mate of his, Billy, has an idea for a movie and is happy to share in an attempt to shake Marty from his crippling over-tippling.

Billy, played with enthusiastic playfulness by Sam Rockwell, is in partnership with Hans (Christopher Walken) in a canine kidnapping conspiracy caper whereby they purloin pooches and redeem rewards for their return.

The shih tzu hits the fan when this duo of dog-nappers hostage the hound of puppy obsessed gangster, Charlie Costello, played by Woody Harrelson in NATURAL BORN KILLERS mode.

This is the reality that feeds into Marty’s screenplay, fleshed out by stories told by Billy and Hans, back stories that include a bunny loving psycho played by Tom Waits and a shadowy preacher man in the guise of Harry Dean Stanton.

It wouldn’t be much fun without femme fatales and we have Abbie Cornish and Olga Kurylenko stepping up to the plate to provide ammo in the amore.

There’s more carnage in SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS than there was in McDonagh’s feature film debut, IN BRUGES, and a load more characters, but the sensibility is the same, with dark deeds examined in the light of regret and redemption. It’s a kaleidoscopic jigsaw of a movie, with zinger dialogue delivered by a killer cast.

Think of McDonagh as a kissin’ cousin of Quentin and the Coens.

© Richard Cotter

7th November, 2012

Tags: Sydney Movie Reviews- SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, Martin McDonagh, Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Abbi Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Sydney Arts Guide, Richard Cotter