Review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) by Robert R — 13 Jan 2018

This is the perfect movie for understanding why there are 2 Americas today. When you know that the only real part of the movie are the billboards which were in a small town in the south, the movie becomes much more about how the writer (and I would imagine Hollywood in general) views rural and small-town America.

I enjoyed the movie at first when I thought all the injustice in this town was being exposed (it was inspired by true events after all). However, it was so farfetched that I had to look it up. When I found out none of it happened, it just becomes the usual moral signaling from immoral Hollywood and specifically the writer Martin McDonagh.

It's interesting all the stereotypes he uses as he tries to point out the injustice of stereotypes. One of the more notable ones was the scene with the Catholic priest. The overly romantic view of suicide really didn't sit well with me.

The scene with the dentist was probably supposed to be funny, but was just unrealistic and extremely dark when you know it wasn't something that actually happened (but who cares since "no one cares about Dentists").

While I didn't like the messaging of the movie, the elements of movie making were done well. If you have the same hopeless view of life as McDonagh, then you'll probably love it as the main character uncompromisingly backs down from no one while taking on all manner of abuse and injustice.