Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Movie Review
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (awful title) is the poor mans version of 2008's classic, "In Bruges". A mishmash of tonal juggling; director Martin McDonagh has failed yet again, wasting some really top performances mainly by Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson.
The film takes place in a made up small town called Ebbing, where a mother (Frances McDormand) goes up against the police force to try to understand why they never solved the case of her daughters killer.
McDormand and Harrelson are excellent, both displaying their acting abilities with grace. It's energetic fun to watch their chemistry bounce off the screen. But unfortunately, Sam Rockwell, Lucas Hedges, John Hawkes, and even Peter Dinklage all seem so lost in their roles mostly because of the direction of the film. It's tone goes from one extreme to the next, from slapstick comedy to dead serious drama in a blink of an eye. The result of this is sometimes cringe inducing comedy, along with in your face social commentary, it's a disaster.
And boy, does Billboards shove every piece of modern social commentary down your throat. From police brutality, to sexual molestation among priests, it will knock you sideways. And the actual substance is brilliant but the scenes that it's implemented in makes no sense, taking away from the fluidity of it's story.
But the filming and music are all competent, creating a well rounded mood for the film. And there are even some really genuinely funny and heartbreaking scenes scattered throughout. But from where I stand right now, I cant recommend this at all. It's a tremendous let down.
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