A Masterpiece of the Blackest Comedy

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2019)

It isn't very often that you see a movie like Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri. Defying easy description, it treads a fine line between tragedy and the blackest of humor to tell a richly nuanced tale of mourning, vendettas, forgiveness, and small-town insanity.
Most of the insanity comes from hard bitten single mother Mildred Hayes, who rents out the titular billboards to demand why the police haven't solved the rape and murder of her teenage daughter months after it occurred. This doesn't sit well with the local PD, or with the many townspeople who adore the long serving, easygoing Chief Willoughby. The tensions this generates drives the story, along with many ill thought out hijinks.
Our humble protagonist is not the most likeable of people. She's cynical, foul mouthed, possessed of an acidic wit, and not particularly concerned what anyone thinks of her. She's also never been the kind of woman to let decency, common, sense, or the law stop her from doing anything, which she demonstrates repeatedly. Yet on some level this is what makes her relatable. She's may be a complete B, but not an unfeeling one. And she has a very good reason for her pain and anger.
When her anger fades and her dark wit fails her, we see that she is a woman deeply in mourning, with only the barest hope of closure. Particularly heartrending are the flashbacks to the bitter fights with her daughter, when she was still alive. It's amazing that she's able to carry on under the weight of such sorrow and guilt. She certainly hasn't chosen the healthiest outlets for her grief, but I suppose we all have our ways of coping. Frances McDormand's performance as Mildred is utterly brilliant, and I hope she takes all the awards she's been nominated for.
Sam Rockwell is likewise a real firecracker as the drunken, brutally violent Officer Dixon, who is the closest thing this movie has to an antagonist. He is truly a sight to behold when he gets all riled up, his fists flying as he cusses up a storm. It's hard to believe that he hasn't ended up in his own jail long ago. But as with most people in this movie there may be more to him than first impressions would suggest.
Woody Harrelson provides a sharp counterpoint to McDormand's acid wit and Rockwell's explosive violence as Chief Willoughby. Friendly and easy going even in tough times, his infectiously good-natured charm permeates the film long after his character has made his exit. His letters to Mildred and the other key players are filled with wisdom and humor, made funnier by the circumstances in which some of them are read. And oddly enough, they do more than anything else to drive personal growth and change in their recipients. It might even be enough to put Mildred on a slightly brighter path, though I wouldn't hold my breath.
This is the kind of movie that frequently makes you laugh, then makes you feel bad for laughing. It's a testament to the director and writer's brilliance that the movie can find humor in material this bleak. Or it might say something about their mental state. Three Billboards is also the kind of movie that constantly subverts your expectations. Every time you think you know where the plot is going it suddenly reverses on you. Characters develop in ways you never would have imagined. The best bits of humor- and the deepest bits of pathos- frequently come without warning. And the ending is a stroke of genius. It's nothing you'd expect, but it's the perfect one for this movie.