Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I’ve had some pretty low moments in my lifetime but few beat the early morning or late night moment I had recently when I seriously spent 20 minutes looking for the piece of pizza that I had just eaten. Apparently I passed out after attempting to convince my friends to come over and keep the party going at 3 in the morning and in the process had forgotten that I had just engulfed the last slice of Via 313 in my fridge. Now in my defense, Via is the Chick Fil-A of pizza; it’s crack that will have people lining up for it a 2 in the afternoon on a Saturday! So I couldn’t help but crave it seeing as how my body was going through withdrawals! But alas, I just had to let that and any prospect of hooking up go as I decided to once again pass out and call it a night.

Well this is what poor Mildred (Frances McDormand) had to be feeling over the tragic and horrific loss of her daughter in Martin McDonough’s latest, Three Billboards. And yes, I know that on the surface the two seem like a ridiculous comparison but you’ve never had Via 313 before!

In Billboards, Mildred is dealing with the grief of losing her teenage daughter after someone raped and killed her while she was burning alive. As I’m sure you can imagine, just losing your daughter is bad enough but to lose them to this type of heinous act is unconscionable. Now I’m sure there are a few of you reading this who are thinking to yourself that this storyline already seems over the top but you forget that Ebbing, Missouri is in the title and that the country is a weird, weird place! I have a buddy who was the assistant D.A. in country Colorado and I’ve heard stories that I’ll unfortunately never forget, so to me this story is anything but far-fetched.

But this kind of dark material is the norm for McDonough as he always finds a way to put life’s darkest moments on screen. Thankfully for us, he does so in a rather digestible manner as he also incorporates quite a bit of humor in his stories. And while this isn’t as funny as In Bruges or Seven Psychopaths were, it still has a decent enough balance to keep you from subconsciously slitting your own wrists while watching it.

Mildred can’t get over the fact that it’s been a year since her daughter was killed and the local police don’t seem to have any decent leads on who the killer was. She feels as though it has become a forgotten case at this point and that she will never have any closure in her life. So she decides to rent three billboards on a little used highway to voice her displeasure over their apparent lack of progress. The billboards specifically call out the town’s Chief of Police Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) who is loved by almost everyone town. I say almost because there are a few minorities who have an issue with him employing the racist hothead Dixon (Sam Rockwell) who not only abused a Black man who was in his custody but is also just a general asshole to anyone who doesn’t look or act like him. More on him later.

The billboards cause quite a stir as people, including Mildred’s son and ex-husband, are once again reminded of something they are trying to forget. And tensions rise as the town feels the need to defend Willoughby, who at one point really did try to solve the case. But the stubborn and determined Mildred will not back down at all as she’s a walking, talking bull in a China shop. And she will not let anyone or anything deter her from lighting a fire (in one case, literally) under the police department until she finds justice.

McDormand is as solid as they come playing the tough as nails mother who is trying her best to hold it together as she attempts to find a resolution by any means necessary. It’s a seemingly perfect marriage between her and McDonough as she spits out his dialogue with such rapid fire and fury that she makes you want to take on the police department yourself. And every time she confronts anyone who tries to get in her way, it’s like you’re rooting for your favorite underdog WWE wrestler. Sure she may go a little overboard at times and she may even do a few things you as an outsider may think twice about but her daughter’s dead and she wants answers; something I’m sure we can all identify with.

Sam Rockwell however is the wild card in this story. If Mildred is the wrestler that you’re rooting for, he is assuredly the villain that you’re rooting against. He’s a momma’s boy who gives in to every impulse that pops in his head and his actions do nothing but make matters worse for Mildred and the community as a whole. Will Willoughby’s blind loyalty to him be he and Mildred’s downfall?

While I thoroughly enjoyed this film, it’s definitely a punch to the gut. There’s so much pain these characters have to deal with that at some point it almost becomes too much. But the story and the acting in it are so good that I believe it’s almost required viewing at this point. It shows both the wrong and the right ways to deal with loss and grief and that no matter what you’ve done in life, there’s always a chance for redemption or resolution. I rate this movie as FRESH and I hope that McDormand, Rockwell, and Harrelson all get Oscar nominations for their performances.