BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
I’m a huge fan of dark comedy. Seven Psychopaths is a dark comedy. That would typically mean I’d enjoy a movie, but not always. Seven Psychopaths paints its own picture. It stars Colin Farrell as a struggling writer. His actor friend, Sam Rockwell, gets involved in some low level criminal shit while trying to work out his own struggling acting career. The writer is putting together a screenplay called “Seven Psychopaths”, a film about seven crazy people and their stories. Rockwell’s friend is Christopher Walken, a crazy older gentleman who provides his own input on the story. Rockwell gets deep into some shit and ends up being chased down by Woody Harrelson, a crazy gangster, over a stolen dog. As “wacky” as it sounds, it wasn’t. It felt like “dark comedy” stories I’ve seen before and its twists and turns were a bit predictable. The writer getting lost in his own story has been done before too, most notably in “Adaptation”. Basically, the “dark comedy” wheel is no reinvented here. So if you get past the fact that your mind isn’t going to be blown you can enjoy the little things. Sam Rockwell is great, as always. Woody Harrelson is great, as always. Christopher Walken is great as always too, but ups his acting level a little here. He’s pretty much the heart of the movie and carries it. The cameos and supporting roles were really strong too. Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Zeljko Ivanek, Kevin Corrigan, Harry Dean Stanton, Michael Pitt, and plenty of other cool familiar faces all show up. I did enjoy this movie. I don’t want it to sound like it was a chore to watch or anything. There were some fun performances, the direction was good, and in general it was a fun movie. Then again, I’m a huge fan of dark comedy. I’ll recommend it based on my own taste, but don’t go into it expecting something creatively morbid as other notable dark comedies. It might not be for everyone, but you won’t know unless you watch it. It’s worth checking out. B-
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