FANTASTIC

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2019)

I love a good black comedy, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is precisely that. Humour is perhaps our most essential tool for discussing the dark issues we face in life, and this is a movie filled with Writer/Director Martin McDonagh's trademark dry wit and talent for combining scathing comedy with serious subject matter. Frances McDormand is a terrific lead, full of venom and thinly-veiled bitterness, scowling and sneering at those who wrong her. Her situation is understandable, as is her consternation at what she sees as a slack approach to it from her local police force, which she goes head-to-head with. Brilliant supporting roles are provided by Woody Harrelson and especially Sam Rockwell, who is the quintessential snivelling, ignorant bigot, who is given a chance to grow beyond his raw hatred and finally do some good with his life. The story itself seems to take too many digressions in the 3rd act, but I liked the uncertainty upon which it ended, and the questions it forces the audience to ask. I don't mind a perfectly happy ending it if feels right and fits the tone, and it certainly wouldn't have here. The jokes are, in keeping with the material, harsh and even cruel, but what's being presented is unpleasant, and the movie never tries to lampshade it. It never feels overlong and surprises keep popping out of nowhere. Being a huge fan of In Bruges, McDonagh's cinematic debut, I'm glad to see he is keeping the tradition of highly observant dark comedies alive.