Masters of Dark Comedy: Martin Mcdonagh pt.2 Seven Psychopaths by Jared Watson

After the release of In Bruges in 2008, Martin Mcdonagh had a couple of scripts written and ready to go, but decided to take a couple years off to travel. He already had one in mind, and was planning on making his screenplay Seven Psychopaths into his next film. Production on Seven Psychopaths started sometime in early to mid 2011, and was released in North America on October 12th, 2012. The film stars Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, and Tom Waits.

Colin Farrell plays Marty, a screenwriter trying to finish, or even start his script entitled Seven Psychopaths. One might wonder if Marty might be inspired by and share a name with a real life screenwriter who wrote a script called Seven Psychopaths. Marty’s best friend Billy, a struggling actor with a penchant for punching directors makes a living by kidnapping dogs and collecting the reward money. Billy’s “business” partner is Hans, a cravat wearing gentleman with a wife in the cancer ward.

After unwittingly kidnapping the dog of a violent gangster named Charlie (Woody Harrelson), Billy and Hans find themselves being hunted down, getting Marty mixed up in their mess. The story also involves a masked man killing members of the mob, a stalking quaker, a couple in love hunting down and killing serial killers, and a Vietnamese priest who straps a bomb to a prostitute.

Just like Mcdonagh’s previous film In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths is incredibly dark, and deeply funny. Furthermore, it shares the quality of having the city it’s based on being a character itself. It is a film that takes place in Los Angeles, about Hollywood revolving around one of its inhabitants named Marty and written by a man named Martin. Billy wants Marty to add classic Hollywood shootouts to his script, while Marty wants it to be cerebral and thought provoking.

Could it be said that it’s a movie about itself? It may not reach the über-meta heights of the likes of Charlie Kaufman, but Seven Psychopaths is definitely a fun movie to watch. Just the same as In Bruges, some of the comedy is a little dated with a few uses of the f-slur, so one might want to keep that in mind going in, but other than that, I hope you like this darkly funny little romp.

Jared Watson is a moviemaker, writer, and avid cinefile. Check out his work: https://www.ridgeviewdrive.com/