Dark, Funny, Shocking with great directing and acting overall !

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2017)

This film is an awards bait film so that is why I personally decided to give it a go, completely missed the trailers for it and didn't know much before going in. Overall it is a decent film......a good film actually.
I'll quickly get the praise for the writing and directing over and done with, yes both elements in the film are strong and good. They will probably earn some award nominations and its probably deserved, however for me they were not standout elements. Nothing wrong with them, just fine.
The performances are obviously the central part and focus of the film, which starts with a heart breaking yet oddly interesting premise of a murder and a police department running out of resources and leads. Sam Rockwell for me personally is the standout of the film, even though in the beginning he is a bit of a moron. You begin to follow him throughout the film dealing with the case and his day to day routine. As the film progresses you begin to see past the rough exterior and see that there is a desperate man underneath trying to do the right thing, Rockwell's performance throughout is brilliant. Starting of as a idiot and turning out to be a guy trying to so the right thing is quite powerful considering he almost gets killed.
Talking of people getting killed or killing themselves, Woody Harrelson's character is your run of the mill cop, but the shocking and extremely surprising suicide of the character is gut wrenching. It was completely out of nowhere but served the story so well and actually gave the film a change of pace it so desperately needed. Very well handled.
Even though the film is extremely dark, lets be honest its about the repercussions of a young woman being raped and murdered its not exactly light hearted. The hints of comedy now and then in the film work extremely well and are placed perfectly throughout. For example the ex-husbands new 19 year old girlfriend is just hilarious.
Unfortunately there are couple big negatives of the film that let it down for me and are the reason for not giving it a better mark. Firstly the character portrayed by Frances McDormand, she is completely horrible to everyone including her own family throughout the film. Oh wait until the very final frame of the film she is nice. I personally could not connect or empathise towards the character at moment because she is a monster. The actions the character takes throughout the film are nasty especially when tries to burn down the police department, I don't feel sorry for her at any moment. Its has nothing to do with McDormand's performances no I think she does a great job its just the characters decisions and actions throughout the film are terrible.
Lastly the film is quite slow and does drag at times, which is not good for repeat viewings of the film which is the last negative against it. Overall its a good film 70% out of 100 or 7 out of 10, it has good directing and writing with one standout performance from Sam Rockwell with a great twist with Woody Harrelson. However the unlike-ability of the central character and the slow dragging pace of the film make it difficult to watch again.