Review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) by Dave S — 25 Nov 2017

Flawless acting, at least from McDormand and Rockwell, but the actors had next to nothing to work with. Definitely agree with someone else who mentioned how badly this film wanted to be a Cohen Brothers movie.

Sadly, the dialog is the opposite of the Cohen Brothers', replacing carefully observed, bone-deep, realistic irony with lazy stereotyping and self-satisfied sitcom-level quips that simply can't be delivered in character, even by these top-shelf actors.

Needed a script by someone with at least a basic familiarity with rural American cultures and human nature. There are scattered moments when the actors get to work without being dragged down by the script, and in those moments it's easy to grow hopeful about the whole endeavor.

Sadly, there's always a tone-deaf set piece nearby to break the spell. By the end, I was rooting for the actors against the script and direction, losing any engagement with the ostensible story. Excruciating 90% of the time and frustrating in its moments of brilliance because one always knows they'll be fleeting.

But if you assume that all Americans are barely sentient, hyper-violent toddlers with severe personality disorders (and there are certainly arguments for that position), you'll get to see those prejudices writ large here.