The Sheriff has pancreatic cancer and is likely in his last few months of life. Willoughby has brought Mildred in for questioning because she’s been accused of assaulting a dentist with his own tools after he disparaged her billboards. In fact, the most human moment that Mildred has in her entire grumpy, crass, one-note role is in the police station with Willoughby. He immediately goes to Mildred and explains that they have no DNA matches and no other evidence, there's very little that they can do at the moment, but calling attention to the matter could help her case.īecause this is Harrelson and McDormand, two greats at dark comedy, there are many great scenes between the two characters. He fills the gray area in between the oppositional hatred, as a Sheriff should. When we first meet Sheriff Willoughby ( Woody Harrelson) at work, he defends Officer Dixon-a bumbling idiot who can't even keep track of his badge-of his racist reputation by saying, “deep down he’s a good guy.” Sheriff Willoughby is actually a good guy. The young black man putting up the signs recognizes Dixon from a previous incident and spits at his car. In succession they read, “RAPED WHILE DYING,” “STILL NO ARRESTS,” “WHY, SHERIFF WILLOUGHBY?” They go up on Easter Sunday and Officer Dixon ( Sam Rockwell) is the first to see them. She rents the three titular billboards on a small county road that’s mostly patrolled by police. The ugly incident happened seven months prior and the local police have made no arrests. These aren’t characters as much as they are, ahem, billboards.įrances McDormand plays Mildred, a foul-mouthed mother who is grieving the abduction, rape, and murder of her teenage daughter.
#Three billboards outside ebbing missouri review movie
This is an extremely harsh movie that has some great moments, earns some uncomfortable laughs, but can’t complete the tightrope walk because the two principal forces that have to come together are complete caricatures of all-consuming grief and all-consuming above-the-law cop swagger. These are agreeable messages for anyone who has a heart but Three Billboards only gets there by escalating violence-without nary an arrest on either side-to absurd heights. There’s also the message that the only way to get through to the “bad apple” policeman is to take their gun and badge without paid leave or severance. There’s a message that the only way to heal the gap between civilians and police in America is to work together as opposed to each side seeing the other as the opposition. There are a few characters who represent the gray area in between, who offer olive branches that are only received once each of the characters have been humbled. Hatred of the police and hatred of civilians. It focuses primarily on two characters where hatred of the other side is the basis of their character. McDonagh uses many hateful words toward people of color, homosexuals, and the police The Show Me State is here to show us all sides of hate in Three Billboards. Principally, the two-sided hatred of police for protecting their own instead of facing the hatred that oozes within many police stations throughout the country. The impeccably titled Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the new film from In Bruges filmmaker Martin McDonagh, is a catalogue of American hatred.
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