Dark Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2017)

Martin McDonagh hits another home run with Three Billboards. In Bruges was one of my ten best in 2008. He also produced The Guard, one my best of 2011. He has made the transition from writing plays in Ireland, to somehow having the ear to write dialogue for American actors. Frances McDormand is the star here, and she should be preparing her acceptance speech for the upcoming Academy Awards. She is Mildred Hayes, a divorced mother whose teen daughter has been raped and murdered on the side of a desolate road. The slow moving, Mayberry like police department is not exactly Scotland Yard. Mildred has the inspiration to rent three billboards with the messages of raped while dying, still no arrests, and how come Chief Willoughby? The chief is played by Woody Harrelson, and he matches McDormand scene for scene. The film is violent, funny and has a deep, dark cynicism throughout. McDonagh shares a verbal style similar to Quentin Tarantino, my other current favorite filmmaker. It is amazing what can be done with a relatively small ($12 million) budget. It was money well spent.