Score: C
Directed by Martin McDonagh
Starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell
Running time: 115 minutes
Rated R
Long Story Short: Three Billboards, an awards season contender, features an interesting premise in the push for justice through unusual means by a grieving mother. Frances McDormand's lead performance is as good as advertised, but the film itself falls well short. The premise is squandered by an inability to find the right tone, which is often waylaid by dark comedy and violence, and an inconsistent script. Opinions may vary widely, but proceed with caution.
A disconsolate woman, Mildred (McDormand), mother of a brutally murdered daughter, one day comes across three forgotten billboards alongside a little-used road. At last, she has found inspiration: with the criminal investigation gone cold without producing any leads, Mildred rents the billboards in order to call out the police department in a very direct way. Once local media puts her act of confrontation in the news, Mildred soon finds herself at odds not only with the police and their cancer-stricken Chief Willoughby (Harrelson) but much of the town's population, too. Mildred's resolve is unshakeable, however, even as she and her teenage son receive harassment and abuse from everyone from the dentist to school children. When tragedy strikes once more, Mildred's campaign comes under more pressure, even as new interest in and questions about her daughter's case emerge from unexpected sources.
Three Billboards has a great cast portraying a colorful set of characters. Frances McDormand is the lead as despairing yet ruthlessly driven Mildred. She does an excellent job, primarily through her physical embodiment of a barely contained rage; just a glance at her locked-in expressions tells you all you need to know, an expression that holds whether she is face-to-face with a pastor, the police chief, or a kid. However, her underlying grief breaks through from time to time, and McDormand believably sheds the rough exterior and transforms into a genuinely vulnerable mother. If anything, the film would have benefited from more of her. Next is Woody Harrelson as Chief Willoughby, who brings an equal mixture of dramatic tension with Mildred and a darkly comedic element. Harrelson is also very good, mostly dropping his eccentric trademark (save for a few bits) for a straight part. He is intriguingly complex, buffeted by not only Mildred's attacks but also his personal problems yet remaining principled... to an extent. Sam Rockwell has another significant role as a dim-witted, drunken yet also often humorous police officer. Rockwell often gets oddball supporting parts like this and as usual, he does a great job - with what he's given, at least. All other parts - most notably including Peter Dinklage and Caleb Landry Jones - are fine, but much smaller.
Three Billboards has many good elements (particularly the cast) within a great premise, but they are mostly spoiled by an inconsistent script and tone, which are at times bewildering and at others distasteful. The story is very interesting, contrasting support for a mother's demand for justice against unease at the methods she uses on others. There are plenty of related, timely, fascinating themes in this, from the criminal justice system (and sexual assault in particular) to the relationship of media and public opinion. While the film does well to avoid being too heavy-handed with any of that, it goes too far in the opposite direction by distracting from the story with oddly (and often, IMO, inappropriately) placed black humor and chilling violence. Where these two elements are in Mildred's scenes, they work well and are appropriate, but the two police officers steal far too much screen time and focus. Harrelson and Rockwell, again, do well, but the comedy and violence in their scenes is distracting and disorienting at best, and appalling at worst. Both of their characters undergo dramatic changes which drive the development of the story (which should have been Mildred's job), and are otherwise problematic: for Harrelson, it's the way the film views his fateful choice, and for Rockwell, it's an implausible 180 degree shift in character. There are further sidetracks, too, though at least they tend to involve Mildred. One involving her ex-husband is cliched and mostly uninteresting, and the other, with Dinklage, had potential but is over in the blink of an eye. Finally, too often the film veers between being too direct and unsubtle (mostly thanks to awkward moments in the script) and artsy-abstract, where coincidences often transform awkwardly into crucial realities.
***
Three Billboards is one of the biggest letdowns for me recently among awards contender films (also Hacksaw Ridge - terrible, way out of place with last year's other excellent Best Picture nominees and should be skipped). In skimming critics' reviews, I haven't seen much about the film's tone, but it really bothered me. This film had so much potential, particularly from the premise but also from the cast, but it squandered it with poor direction and an inconsistent script. I didn't like many of the choices made, from the undue focus on the cops to an often tasteless application of the comedy and violence. I think my overall score may be based more on my personal reaction to it than it is for other films, so you (like the critics) may come to a very different conclusion than me. So give it a try if you're so inclined, but in my opinion you can wait until it comes to Netflix or DVD, if at all.
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53574638
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