Squandered Potential / Anyone who rated this film above a 4 has lost all credibility as a film critic

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 2018)

Wow...
I am stunned and shocked to see the 8.4 rating this film received.
The film had the potential to be truly something powerful.
1 - Powerful subject matter (rape, racism, police corruption, toxic masculinity) You name it this film really covered some of the most poignant and important topics in American society, yet marginalized every single point it was trying to make.
2 - Superb Cast (4 A listers, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage) You could not have casted better for each role (besides Sheriff Willoughby's strange English wife WTF???)
3 - Location / Cinematography / Soundtrack (superb)
4 - Story (A mother posts billboards on a deserted stretch of highway to encourage the local police force to solve the horrific rape and murder of her daughter)

Because of the nonsensical plot twists, the inplausible and impossible coincidences and the flat out bad writing and bad acting this movie simply blew it.
Fails:
1 - Woody Harrelson's character explains to Frances McDormand's character in the first ten minutes that they have done everything in their power by cross referencing the DNA samples found with databases nationwide and that there were absolutely no leads. Therefore her persisting in keeping the billboards up just doesn't make sense...
2 - Why didn't the cops just deface/destroy the billboards from the beginning if they were so corrupt and didn't give a shit about the rule of law???
3 - The dentist who just happened to be one of the people complaining about the billboards insists on pulling out FM's tooth without even looking at it. She then proceeds to drill a hole through his thumb.
4 - Woody committing suicide. At that critical point in the film with the billboards and him showing only the first signs of even being sick. The guy is the chief of police and the entire town thought so highly of him. NO WAY he would just kill himself like that.
5 - The conversation Woody and his wife had on the couch was just way too dirty and bizarre and why all of a sudden was she speaking with a British accent???
This just completely through the film out of sync.
6 - The scene with the surviving daughter was just contrived and bad and made Frances just look like a horrible mother.
7 - The breakfast scene the next morning and her ex-husband overturning the table while the 19 y/o girlfriend looks on...
8 - Sam Rockwell smashing the front door, beating the advertiser, breaking the window, throwing him out the window, assaulting the secretary, and again beating the advertiser in plain sight of the soon new to be African American chief of police who does nothing. Rockwell is not arrested and sits at his desk while the film cuts to a news report about the chief's death and if the billboards may have contributed to his suicide.
9 - The news inferring that there may be a link to his death and the billboards paid for by FM's character. No news outlet would actually have said something like that for fear of being sued.
10 - The new chief of police taking his sweet time to enter the station and only after what appears to be half and hour or so dismisses Sam Rockwell from his job.
11 - Who the hell helped clean up all the broken glass and monitored the situation which was happening just outside the station then??? All the cops were inside the station as if NOTHING had happened.
12 - Some random guy coming into the gift shop to threaten FM's character, saying that he wished he could have been the one to rape her daughter. Ends up he was nowhere in the vicinity or even in the country when this happened. How does he know where to find FM? Why doesn't she chase him down or at least get his license plate number after he leaves. To top it off she's saved by the late sheriff's wife showing up to deliver a letter left by Woody.
13 - The billboards are burning down when FM and her son drive by and they conveniently have a 50 gallon fire extinguisher in the front seat..
14 - SR just happens to be in the police station when FM decides to firebomb the station from across the street. She tries to call the station to warn him to get out (Call trace???) But then just decides to set the station on fire with SR inside. Then conveniently Peter Dinklage's character just happens to be walking by and then becomes FM's alibi and then agrees to go on a date with him.
15 - FM & PD go on a date at the "nice restaurant" in town and her ex-husband and his 19 y/o girlfriend just happen to show up.
16 - SR is out of the hospital after maybe 24 hours after having "severe burns" and decides to go for a drink at the same exact time as FM's colleague who he had arrested & the billboard guy and to TOP it off the random guy who might have raped her daughter are all in the same bar. The random guy is bragging about having committed a rape just out of the blue when SR is sitting right next to him and then when SR goes outside, comes back, he finally asks if that guy has been sitting behind him the whole night... SR was like 6 inches away there is NO WAY he didn't know he wasn't there... Then all of a sudden when SR goes to the bar the guy acts like he has a big problem and they get into a big fight where SR decides to scratch the guy to obtain a DNA sample instead of simply calling the police and at the very most detaining the guy until the police arrive.
Probably one of the biggest stupid parts of the entire film.
Seriously 4 linked characters all randomly showing up at the bar. The guy admitting to a rape in public very well knowing someone is right behind him. A cop who had just read a note from his mentor saying he knows he has the potential to be a good police officer and he goes and does something as stupid as that...
MOST IMPLAUSIBLE SCENE EVER !!!
17 - The new chief of police informs SR that the DNA was not a match and the guy was not even in the country but in a place that was sandy.... WTF is this about? Just poorly written and absolutely does not make sense that that random guy was even in the town to begin with.
18 - FM & SR decide to go to Idaho to track down the guy because while they may not be able to solve the case which actually means something to them, that guy was probably a rapist and deserves to die to...
Good luck finding him in Idaho being that he was just in your town a few days ago. Yeah ok....
What a waste. This film truly could have been something which raised real questions about the role of the police force in society and how corruption, racism, sexism, homophobia are being addressed in rural communities but nope it just turned into the biggest laughable POS in recent memory.
Don't watch this film.