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

I'll give it two stars because the Sam Rockwell knocked it out of the park, but the film itself is just a mediocre production pretending to be something special with the same oscar buzz generated by critics from its viewing in the film festivals. Moonlight last year suffered from the exact same effect.

The whole premise of the billboards is just plain dumb; she singles out the police chief for not making arrests when there was zero evidence to convict anybody. That's literally how the law works. He tells her this and she doesn't offer any valid solutions. And yet despite this, and despite the fact that the person she singled out is dying, she still keeps the boards up, coupled with her generally shitty attitude, just makes one care very little about this protagonist, who we're supposed to sympathise with (I think??).

Furthermore, the film shifts backwards and forwards in tone so much that its hard to distinguish exactly what its trying to be. There were scenes that were so crazy in the sense that I think they were played for comic value, but they just came across as awkward and bizarre. At one point, Dixon, walks right across the street, beats a kid up to a pulp and throws him out of the window, in front of not only several witnesses including the police chief, but his own police station, before returning and closing the door. He was later reluctantly fired. Fired. Sorry, but that man would have been arrested on the spot for battery and attempted murder. I know corruption, negligence and police brutality is a problem in the states, but that whole scene was just straight up bonkers. Furthermore, this very same character suddenly develops a redemption complex that we're supposed to sympathise with, and its so out of left field that its just plain confusing.

What's more is that film tries to bring up themes like racism, but instead of actually providing much needed commentary on it, it just merely mocks the fact that one of the offices was known to be a white supremacist who beats up black people and gets away with it. The actual concept of these actions is literally used in a scene for comedic effect. This, coupled with the fact that they brought Peter Dinklage (a bloody good actor) in just so they could throw around some midget slurs for kicks, shows you the level of competence in the humor department for this film.

The more I think about this film, the more I dislike it. Even the name is pretentious. Don't be fooled by the buzz.