Seven Psychopaths

Plot synopsis:
Marty is a struggling writer who dreams of finishing his screenplay, Seven Psychopaths. Marty's best friend, Billy, makes a living by kidnapping dogs and collecting the owners' rewards for their safe return. Billy's partner-in-crime is Hans, a religious man with a cancer-stricken wife, Myra.
Marty writes a story for another psychopath, the "Quaker", who stalks his daughter's killer for decades, driving the killer to suicide. Billy suggests Marty use the "Jack of Diamonds" killer, perpetrator of a recent double murder, as one of the psychopaths. Billy places an advertisement in the newspaper inviting psychopaths to call and share their stories for Marty to use in his script. A man named Zachariah Rigby approaches Marty and shares his story, with the condition that the movie includes a message to his partner in crime.
Billy and Hans steal a Shih Tzu named Bonny, unaware that it is the beloved pet of Charlie Costello, an unpredictable and violent gangster. Charlie's thugs, led by Paulo, discover Hans' connection to the kidnapping. They threaten to kill Marty and Hans, but the Jack of Diamonds killer arrives and kills the thugs. Charlie traces Myra to the cancer ward and kills her after she refuses to tell him anything.
Billy goes to Costello's house to meet his girlfriend, Angela, who is also Charlie's girlfriend. After Billy reveals to her that he kidnapped Bonny, she calls Charlie to tell him. Billy, after finding out that Charlie killed Myra, shoots Angela in retaliation. Charlie arrives at Billy's address and discovers many packs of playing cards with the jack of diamonds missing, and realizes Billy is the "Jack of Diamonds" killer.
Marty, Billy, and Hans leave the city with Bonny. Hans reveals that he was the Quaker. Marty wrote his story after hearing it from a drunken Billy. The trio drive into the desert and set up camp. Billy suggests Seven Psychopaths end with a shootout between the psychopaths and Charlie's forces.
Marty and Hans see a headline saying that Billy is wanted in connection with the Jack of Diamonds killings. Marty confronts Billy, who reveals that he assumed the Jack of Diamonds persona to give Marty inspiration. Marty tells Billy they must go home. Meanwhile, Hans has a vision of Myra in which she is in a "grey place," leading Hans to question his belief in the afterlife. He ignores Marty's reassurances that his vision was a peyote-induced hallucination. Billy sets the car on fire, stranding the trio, and calls Charlie, telling him their location. Billy claims he impersonated Myra, causing Hans to leave.
Billy, with Bonnie in tow, anxiously waits for Charlie to arrive, intending to have a climactic shootout. Charlie arrives alone, without a weapon apart from a flare gun. An enraged Billy shoots Charlie, feeling cheated out of a shootout. Marty drives away with Charlie, intending to take him to a hospital, while Billy realizes the flare gun's purpose and fires it. Hans finds Charlie's thugs awaiting the flare signal. The large group catches the attention of the police, who draw closer. Hans pretends to draw a weapon, causing Paulo to shoot him in front of the police. Before dying, Hans says "It isn't grey at all".
The thugs head towards the signal, with police in pursuit, and encounter Marty and Charlie, who reveals that he only suffered a flesh wound. With backup, Charlie returns to Billy's location. After a shootout, Charlie and Billy have a stand-off, respectively holding Marty and Bonny hostage. Charlie releases Marty and shoots Billy just as the police arrive. Charlie and Paulo are arrested, but Bonny stays at the dying Billy's side. Marty visits the scene of Hans's death, and finds a tape recorder with suggestions for Seven Psychopaths.
Marty, having adopted Bonny, finishes the screenplay. Some time later later, after the Seven Psychopaths movie is shown in theater, Marty receives a call from Zachariah, who intends to kill him for forgetting to leave a message as promised. On hearing Marty's weary and resigned acceptance, Zachariah realizes that Marty's experiences have left him a changed man, and decides to spare him.

Tags: comedy, murder, violence, atmospheric, flashback, clever, psychedelic, entertaining, storytelling

Review:
There something about Woody playing a character that is way over the top, that feels like he's playing it way over the top, none the less he was still funny.This movie was full of hilarious one liners, and some very smart dialog, the plot was at the same time funny and ridiculous.
I read a few of the reviewers that slammed this movie and most of them were bashing the plot or the lack thereof, this is not a great who done it, and I will agree the plot was paper thin, at best.If you see this movie you need to see it for the acting and a fun way to spend 110 minutes.
The frequent narration and character introduction of the movie gives it a constantly evolving lure and makes you feel like you're sitting by a camp fire listening to something unfold.
Even though their is a thick layer of narration and Peckinpah darkness, it's fun as hell, with the acting a huge aspect of that; if you want to experience a great story, that discovers a point to the whole mess these characters undertake, and have a blast at the same time, then go see this awesome movie!.
When I was driving to the theater, I was doubting my choice in Seven Psychopaths, because the trailer made it seem like so many films I'd seen before that looked edgy and wry, and showed so much promise in the previews yet fell short because of flat characters and muddled plots.
Let's get the insane plot of Seven Psychopaths out of the way: Marty (Collin Farrell) is a struggling Irish screenwriter, who hopes to finish his screenplay for a film called "Seven Psychopaths," while battling a case of writer's block and author-indecisiveness.
After both Hans and Billy steal an unpredictable crime boss's (Woody Harrelson) shih-ztu, it becomes a violent, relentless cat-and-mouse chase to get the pup back, and in the meantime, we get lengthy monologues between characters about the production of "Seven Psychopaths" and how Marty's inspiration begins to bubble when he starts considering the barrage of real psychopaths in his own life.There are several films that exist about the movie-making process and it is a very difficult genre to make effectively.
Seven Psychopaths succeeds in balancing the art of characters and the art of plot coherency, and it doesn't cross the line of becoming too involved in the process and too concerned with "in" jokes that leave the audience lost.
To put it simply; the actors look like they're having fun, but they make sure we are still amused and connected with the film.Right off the bat, the first thing one can commend about this entire experience are the rich performances by actors of all different career heights.
This easily makes Seven Psychopaths one of the most visually calm pictures of the year.Starring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, and Olga Kurylenko.
The movie stars Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
Colin Farrell plays a writer struggling with a screen play called "Seven Psychopaths." His friend (Rockwell) is desperate to help write the screenplay.
Unfortunately, Rockwell and Walken make the mistake of stealing Woody Harrelson's dog; a psychopath who will stop at nothing to get his Shiatsu back.This script for this film is one of the most original I've ever seen.
Many would think that a movie that jumps around through different genres would be a bad thing, but this movie is so fluid and every plot point connects so well, that you aren't bothered in the slightest about deciding what the genre is of this film.
I've been following this film for some time now and spreading the word, trying to get as many of my friends to watch it when they get the chance and, low and behold, they are raving in approval.'In Bruges' writer and director Martin McDonagh returns with possibly the most perfectly written, directed, filmed and acted movie that I have had the pleasure of watching in years.
Unable to find the inspiration he needs to start his new script, aptly titled the same as the film, he is thrust into a deadly situation of unbelievable magnitude.Billy (Sam Rockwell) and his elderly friend Hans (Christopher Walken) have kidnapped the cute cuddly Shih Tzu of psycho gangster Charlie (Woody Harrelson), who will have his dog back at all costs.
At the same time, saving Marty and Hans' lives before a pair of mob goons can find out the whereabout of the dog, vigilante mafia boss killer 'The Jack of Diamonds' executes the gansgters and spares the two men, who decide to grab Billy and head for the hills.But never mind wondering what he's going to do when Charlie comes back for his dog, Marty has yet to find the inspiration for his script closer to home than he has been looking as both Billy and Hans turn out to be two completely different breeds of psychopath.Without spoiling it, this film is not your run of the mill loony comedy.
We know they're crazy and dangerous almost from the offset but at the same time, we - and also Marty - cannot help but feel endeared towards them.So what we really have is a crime drama that is up to its ears in hilarious comedy, tragedy and deep meaning, and this to me is perfect enough before the style and the powerhouse acting takes it graciously towards the end credits.This film boasts a genius example of ideal ensemble casting which also includes an awesome turn by music legend and actor Tom Waits as Zachariah.
The movie does have some faults like some predictable plot points and the humor fails at some parts, but this shouldn't discourage you from watching the film.
But I understand quite well what the movie was trying to be, and I would have really wanted it to succeed, just like Pulp Fiction did in a strange but great way, or like the weird but always well thought-through stuff Charlie Kaufmann writes.
In Los Angeles, the alcoholic Irish screenplay writer Marty (Colin Farrell) lives with his girlfriend Kaya (Abbie Cornish) and is writing the screenplay of a story about seven psychopaths.
His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell), who helps Marty to develop the profile of psychopaths, kidnaps dogs for the veteran smalltime crook Hans (Christopher Walken) that returns the animal to the owner to receive the reward.
Maybe with Guy Ritchie in the direction, "Seven Psychopaths" might have worked, but unfortunately Martin McDonagh does not repeat the good work of "In Bruges" and the movie sucks.
Martin McDonagh's second feature film is one which starts with a huge amount of promise, with a great cast and some fast paced and fun dialogue for the first 30 minutes or so and a pretty classic premise.
However I think the film really starts to decline from there as the movie tries to something different by subverting what you'd expect in a movie like this but in the end is let down by basically everything in the film from the acting to the writing and even just the plot really.
6 might be a bit harsh and is probably marking my disappointment for a movie from a director who made one of my favourite films but a 6/10 isn't really that bad, it's still a decent flick.
I'm not really a fan of this genre of film, which consists of horrible characters doing horrible things to each other, but SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is worth a look due to the unusual aspects of the storyline.
The draw is that all of the main cast members are, you guessed it, psychopaths, although there's also a lot of shaggy dog storytelling going on too so you're never quite sure what's what.The main flaw of this film lies in the unlikeable characters.
Sam Rockwell spends the whole of the running time hamming things up, and it's left to Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson in support to make the best of things.
Having seen the director's first film "In Bruges" I was kind of prejudiced that this would be an even better on the same climate ( dark humor basically) movie.
the acting was solid and i really feel this same movie, with better writing and directing could have been an instant classic.instead, we just got an entire film of an idea and no movie.
In his plays McDonagh integrates corrosive humour, scintillating dialogue, brilliantly worked out plots, and pointed violence into a unforgettable whole; in this movie he throws all the sub-Tarantino genre clichés into a blender and throws the resulting mess onto the screen.
Script is written in such a way that it makes fun of itself, one of the characters says something along the lines that the female characters in Marty's screenplay are horrible and not very developed, in the film itself women have very little screen time and are very quickly disposed of.
Martin McDonagh assembled quite a glorious cast: Colin Farrell gives one of his best performances in previous McDonagh's film In Bruges and he does that again.
Walken, always the more clever actor and a master at stealing a scene, chooses to mostly stare straight ahead while Farrell and Rockwell, who appear to be competing at The Jim Carrey Make-A-Face Festival, are making fools of themselves - and steals the entire movie.
It's not as funny as In Bruges, and it's not as clever as Adaptation and the second half feels almost like its from a very different, boring, film - but if you don't mind graphic violence and wet t shirts between your laughs then this film could be for you.
I had no expectations whatsoever towards this movie, and watched it purely judging by the great cast and the good IMDb score what's happened to you IMDb by the way?
Walken, but even such class actors could not rescue the movie from being one of the worst films in the cinematographic historyThe acting was wooden and the characters didn't convince me for a second.
The script was one of the best I ever read and movie was genuinely funny and seemed original "Seven Psychopaths" lacked so much.
Sam Rockwell was too over-the-top but the scene where he is describing his idea for a movie shootout is hilarious and my favorite part of the film.
It's nothing about the genre or narrative, rather the priggish, postmodernist exercise in style – mixing black comedy with bloodied violence and atypical gangster misogyny; the last of which McDonagh awkwardly tries to redeem with a knowing wink to the audience when Hans criticises Marty's script for mistreating the pointless female characters.Like Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation the reflexive screenwriter is a fantastic premise, and could have been well served within the irreverent snapshot of LA gang culture.
Unfortunately, Seven Psychopaths is inflated with too many half-wit ideas, quips, stylistic nodes and, most crucially, too many damn psychopaths that the kernel of a good movie gets lost.Even still, Seven Psychopaths is still worth a look, even just for that rare glimpse of Tom Waits performing as a bunny wielding "killer of killers", and Christopher Walken in his total element as a dog mapper with a dark history.More reviews at www.366movies.com.
To be honest I walked out after about an hour, so it's possible that the ending was much better, but it's hard to imagine how the ending could have made up for the hour I did see.In addition to the silly plot, the violence in this movie is somehow cartoonish and extremely graphic at the same time.
It seemed that the primary reason for the violence was to prove that these people were psychopaths.I enjoyed this writer/director's last movie "In Bruges".
From the beginning, you can see that you're watching what seemed like a clever witty scenario with a well- written characters and decent performances from Collin Farrel and Sam Rockwell, which gave a great supporting role as the wacky Billy Bickle, and deserved a recognition.
When you reach the end, you may tell yourself that the director intended the movie to come out like this, but did he or he just let things flow as they are??
So if you want a good ride then you should check this film out, however if you actually listen to critics and agree with them , or if you refuse to see a movie that will not earn a Oscar nod then please save us all from your over critical highbrow review and stay your ass at home.
A bit skinny (the humor is diluted by a dramatic atmosphere, a meta-text which also yearns to be critique of Hollywood clichés into which the film falls nevertheless), without teeth (that would be the plot, or any kind of character development), and blind (the movie starts with a discussion about shooting people in the eye and goes downhill towards scenes worthy of horror movies).But "comedy" is in the eye of the beholder after all, so go and see it....
The way the characters are able to fall away from their humorous nature and decline into a deeper and darker story makes the movie very well rounded.The mark of a good film is one that has you laughing one minute, digging for answers to philosophical questions the next, on the edge of your seat moments later, and in tears by the end.
Seven Psychopaths is like a Tarantino movie on Steroids.
If I was to recall the best moment in the movie it would have to be Christopher Walken's performance recording his ideas about one of the characters in the script for the writer.
The best I can say about the concept is that it reminded me of what a much better written parody of a Quentin Tarantino production might convey,albeit with a skilled cast.Farrell, Walken, and Harrelson have all appeared in films that did not rely on their stock personae as much as here, propped up in this turkey.
don't waste your precious time on this movie.I have never written any reviews about any movie i have watched but this one is so bad i felt motivated enough to write about it.The acting is average,but the story is so linear and weak it hurts.BUT if you enjoyed In bruges (which i did not) then may be you will enjoy this one too..
"Seven Psychopaths" is one of those films that succeeds with the "Quentin Tarantino" formula of great performances, witty story, and incredible well-written dialouge.
In the film, Colin Farrell plays an Irish playwright who's struggling to start writing his newest screenplay called "Seven Psychopaths", hence the title of the film.
How's the last blind guy gonna take out the eye of the last guy left?" Billy (Sam Rockwell)The above dialogue characterizes an absurdist comedy/thriller in which not one really bright person appears; most are slightly off-center, non-intellectual psychopaths and an author, Martin (Colin Farrell), who may or may not be thinking up the murders and the characters.
I'm not surprised the story is dark and witty because I had the same amusing experience with director Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, also starring Colin Farrell.Standing out among many accomplished actors is Christopher Walken as Hans, a small-time hood who kidnaps well-to-do dogs for their rewards.
This must be the tenth movie they have ever seen.Otherwise, it is a pretty standard roll-out of the intersecting stories style of film with lots of violence (gun play) and all trying to be somewhat philosophical.The acting is OK considering the limited content they have to work with.The movie starts moderately well but quickly lost my attention.
The actors look like they're having a good time, though -- Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell play very well off each other.
I love Christopher Walken's performance, I just wish he had his own movie, a lead role, and an actual script.
Every main character is played by an A-lister: Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken.
Up to a point it is smart, hip, funny and violent and then like some of recent Tarantino's works it is all talk as the director Martin McDonagh flips the movie as they get all meta and talk about adapting a film about psychopaths.Marty (Colin Farrell) is wannabee boozy filmmaker in LA.
What I still did not like in the movie is that it is Woody Harrelson could better play its role.
I think only people who deserved it got it in Seven Psychopaths, but I'd have to watch it again to check and this time round it's delivered with a lot less absurdity, less panache and a lot more self-congratulation.Script writer with mental block William Holden, sorry, alcoholic Colin Farrell is trying to piece together stories containing crackpots into an incoherent whole, while his barmy friend is involved in a dognapping business with a sinister old man in a cravat with a wife dying of cancer in hospital.
I did not enjoy the second half of the movie, I think the acting was good in the first half of the movie, I was really into the character and wanted to know how everything was going to end.
Colin Farrell is great and Sam Rockwell is just plain amazing in this movie (but we can't say anything more without giving plot away).
To be fair, the only actors who are watchable - but not funny - with this very weak script are Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
Not usually a fan of Colin Farrell but he more than holds his own in this film, the rest of the cast are brilliant Sam rockers is amazing in the movie.
"Seven Psychopaths" is a Crime - Comedy movie in which we watch a screenwriter trying his best in order to write his new story when he inadvertently chased by the worst gangster of Los Angeles after his friend kidnapped the gangster's beloved dog.