Movie Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Mildred's (Frances McDormand) daughter was raped and murdered. As time passes, the police are no where near figuring out who committed this horrendous crime just yards from where Mildred lives. As she's driving down the road that passes her house, she notices three billboards that have long been abandoned. She goes to the advertising company that owns the three billboards and purchases ad space that read:

"Raped While Dying."

"And Still No Arrests?"

"How Come, Chief Willoughby?"

It doesn't take long for news of these ads to reach Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). He goes to Mildred's home to say he thinks that those billboards are unfair. Mildred won't bend. Though Willoughby sees the chess move that Mildred has made and doesn't hold it against her, one of his police officers, Dixon (Sam Rockwell), does.

Soon, skirmishes form where both Dixon and Mildred do very regrettable actions.

To me, this is a tough movie to like as the two main characters, Dixon and Mildred, are impossible to like. The movie largely revolves around Dixon, Mildred and Willoughby.

Willoughby ends up being a likable character. He's a police chief who tried his best to solve the murder, but just can't. He's also an individual that is dying from cancer and will be leaving behind a wife and two young children.

Then we have Mildred and Dixon.

We learn some of the backstory on Mildred. She was abused by her ex-husband. And the day her daughter was raped and murdered, Mildred got into an argument with her daughter where she actually said she hoped her daughter got raped (there is additional context, but those are awful last words). So there is a lot of personal vendetta that has built up inside her, which is driving her need to find her daughter's murderer. Though one can sympathize with her taking out the billboard ads, her actions after that are wrong headed moves that put innocent lives at risk.

Dixon is a hot headed, drunk racist who is known to have tortured an African-American teenager. (Of course, the fact that he is still on the force is a major ding on Chief Willoughby.) He takes offense to what Mildred has done and so he also takes actions that are horrendous.

Also, what I found hard to like about the movie is that many of the characters are just plain dumb. It makes it feel like this is a movie that has an agenda to make small town folk look silly. To me, it is one thing to have a movie that shows the quirks of a small town versus a movie that seems just mean spirited towards small town folk.

I'd say this is a movie that one can wait for until it hits Redbox, Netflix or pay TV. If you're looking for a better independent murder investigation, I'd say go watch Wind River. If you're interested in a vendetta movie, driven by the murder of a child, go watch Prisoners.