Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

So far, this is my favorite film of the year.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), this tells the deceivingly simple story of a mother, Mildred Hayes, who puts up three billboards outside her small town of Ebbing, Missouri, which out the police for still not having found her daughter's murderer.

I have a much harder time writing positive reviews than I do negative, which probably says a lot about me as a person, but I'll try and say as much about this movie as I can without doing any spoilers.

Frances McDormand has always been a favorite of mine, and while she'll forever be immortalized as Marge Gunderson, I think Mildred Hayes could very well be her second role that's worthy of this legendary status. Certainly not as (Minnesota) nice as Marge, Mildred is a tough, unpredictable, brutal woman who is hellbent on justice for her daughter and will settle for absolutely nothing less. She has such a strong motivation that it would be very easy, and potentially even crowd-pleasing, to just have her go on a Charles Bronson/Mel Gibson/Liam Neeson-esque killing rampage and have that be the end of it. But that's a major element of this film: justice is not simple, and justice through violence will always have a consequence. Mildred deals more and more with the ripple effect of consequences that these billboards create, but she never backs down or softens her motivation, she just finds a new way to approach it each time. I expect some major awards for McDormand. Not that those matter. But still.

The rest of the cast is fantastic, with Woody Harrelson being as charmingly Woody Harrelson as ever and getting to read some of the best letters I've ever heard in a movie, Peter Dinklage using what little screen time he has to get some of the biggest laughs in the film, John Hawkes adding a layer of humanity to an otherwise total bastard, Abbie Cornish adding an edge to an otherwise standard wife character, and Caleb Landry Jones who's been around for longer than I realized but after seeing Get Out, Twin Peaks, Florida Project, and this, he clearly has both amazing range and an amazing agent. While all of these actors nail it, the other standout performance of the film is from the always wonderful Sam Rockwell, who effortlessly plays an unstable, dimwitted, violent, openly racist cop, and gives a performance so strong that he can go back and forth between being utterly contemptible and sweet and sympathetic at the drop of a hat. I'd love to see a supporting actor nomination for him as well. Again though. Totally doesn't matter. But still.

The cinematography is subtle, as it's letting the actors and the screenplay have the spotlight, but it's sneakily brilliant and often deepens the emotional impact that is consistently felt throughout the film. There's also a captivating long-take sequence that doesn't feel indulgent but instead adds to both the suddenness and the brutality of the moment. There's also some truly gorgeous landscape shots, which is inevitable when shooting this part of the country.

While the cast and the visuals are top-notch, the best aspect of the film is the screenplay. Martin McDonagh is not only a gifted screenwriter, made obvious to the world through In Bruges, but he's also a wildly successful playwright, being the first since Shakespeare to have four different plays running simultaneously in the West End. Three Billboards is the perfect marriage between playwriting and screenwriting. Dialogue rules this film, with plenty of monologues and witty back and forths, but it always feels grounded in reality and never feels as though it's something those people couldn't be capable of thinking up on the spot. It's not like 30 Rock or Friends, where no one could actually be that witty in real life, it's instead based on truthful observations and poured into the specific mold of each character so carefully that you don't even question their perfectly chosen words. The characters are so strong and clear that their shadows linger long after the movie is finished, which, on top of the somewhat episodic style of the storytelling, left me wanting an extended, mini-series version of this film. I truly could have sat and watched this movie all day if that's how long it was.

I don't know if I touched enough on how this film deals with consequences, which is almost done in a Michael Haneke, Funny Games style (just without the actual punishing and shaming of the audience), but that ultimately creates the entire tone of the film. There are often moments that are built up to an inevitably violent conclusion that don't end up going that way, and there also moments where the exact opposite is the case. Through the treatment of potential consequences the entire film becomes consistently unpredictable, which is what makes it so refreshing for me. I never truly knew where it was going to go because of the well-established tone and nature of the movie. Some critics felt that there were tonal inconsistencies, which I think may somewhat harken back to this element of the film, in addition to the wonderful dark humor that's a signature of McDonagh's work, but I'm inclined to think they're wrong. The tone of this film is consistent through its inconsistency, its unpredictability, and its perfect balance of comedy and tragedy. If this had been a show, which again, I'm convinced it could have been, it would almost be easy to write a spec for simply based on the strength of the tone and the characters.

Okay that's about as much as I can go into without spoiling anything. So overall, I really liked this movie. Not sure if it's necessarily an all-time favorite, but it definitely gets a solid number one spot for the year so far. Please go see it. Support any nearby movie theater playing it, because it plays great with an audience.

If you've already seen the movie then I'll tell you the one little complaint I have:

Brief Spoiler

There's a scene that I would've cut. The scene where the suspicious guy comes to Mildred's gift shop and talks about how maybe he raped and murdered her daughter but he didn't. I'm assuming this scene exists to set him up for when he comes back later, but I don't think it was necessary. I actually think the later scene where he's in the bar would've been a lot more powerful if we hadn't seen him before. It would've tied into Woody Harrelson's earlier line about how the guy will accidentally get caught by bragging in a much purer way. The gift shop scene also isn't even that well-written or interesting, especially in comparison to the rest of the film, so it could've easily been cut.

Also, even though it was funny, I think I would've cut Mildred kicking the high schoolers on the simple basis that there was never a consequence for it, which goes against what the film had so brilliantly set up.

Anyways, other than that it's honestly kinda perfect. Hope you saw the movie before reading that.