‘THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI’
And yet just when we believe we know these people and we have a pretty good notion of where the story is going, we are hit with surprises both small and enormous. The fates of multiple characters are not the fates we expected.
Following the path of “Three Billboards” is a little like driving down an unfamiliar road in beautiful but forbidding country late at night, alternately marveling at the scenery and gripping the steering wheel tightly when yet another steep drop or sudden change of direction presents itself.
About those billboards. Painted in bold black letters against a blood-red background, the message reads:
“Raped while dying” “And still no arrests?” “How come, Chief Willoughby?”
Everybody in and around the town of Ebbing knows the billboards refer to the murder of a teenage girl about eight months ago, and even though Red Welby says he can’t divulge the identity of the individual who paid for the billboards, everybody knows it had to be Mildred.
Willoughby is ticked off, Mildred’s ex-husband is mortified and Dixon the cop is ready to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, Mildred goes on the local news and tells her story. (The depiction of an ambitious, overly dramatic, semiclueless, extremely local TV reporter is a brutal but spot-on takedown.)
The mystery surrounding Angela’s murder is always lurking on the edges of “Three Billboards,” but somehow McDonagh has taken the bleakest of subject matters and treated it seriously while also serving up one of the best dark comedies I’ve ever seen. In scene after scene, McDonagh and that outstanding cast deliver small chuckles and hearty laughs that spring authentically from the situations at hand.
The middle-aged, slightly paunchy, hardedged Willoughby is married to the beautiful Anne (Abbie Cornish), who speaks with a trace of an Australian accent. They have two wonderful little girls. The Willoughby we see at home is a far cry from the Willoughby cracking heads as the police chief.
Then there’s Mildred’s ex-husband, Charlie (John Hawkes), now shacking up with 19-year-old Penelope (Samara Weaving, hilarious in a small part), who says she’s reading a book about polo — or is it polio? Which one is about the horses, Penelope asks.
And in one of the most verbally vicious and funniest rip jobs ever seen on film, Mildred politely listens to the local priest’s suggestion that she take down the billboards and frequent Mass more often, and then proceeds to explain in cringe-inducing language why the good father can take his suggestions and, um, leave her house.
Harrelson and Rockwell are the standouts in the supporting cast, but this movie is McDormand’s to own, and of course we shouldn’t be surprised that she carries the story with fierce, foul-mouthed, abrasive, ferociously loving heart. Mildred would be the first to admit she’s not an easy person. Often we’re not convinced she’s even a good person. (Peter Dinklage’s James, a local car dealer with a crush on Mildred, finally tires of her needlessly rough treatment of him and lets her have it — and she deserves everything he says.)
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” provided some of the strongest laughs and some of the most poignant moments of heartbreak of any movie in recent memory. McDormand is sure to score an Oscar nomination for best actress, and the film is deserving of awards consideration in at least a half-dozen other categories as well, from McDonagh’s script and direction to the work by Harrelson and Rockwell.
This is the best movie I’ve seen this year.