Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

(spoiler free)

After the successes of his previous work writer & director Martin McDonagh returns with his third feature film, ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’, achieving the biggest amount of buzz of any of his previous projects. The film is about a mother who is unhappy with her local police force’s efforts to solve the murder of her daughter. In an effort to keep the case in the public eye and ultimately have it solved she rents three billboards to make sure the police force and local community can’t forget it. 

McDonagh continues his run of impressive writing here with another delightfully dark comedy. This humour is incredibly effective from the get go and rarely lets up for the entire running time. However, behind this comedy is a really great small town crime story which shouldn’t be overlooked. The collection of characters McDonagh has created are so entertaining to watch interact with each other bringing laughter, sadness, shock and emotion in equal measure. Whilst this is often a brash, in your face kind of story McDonagh allows for some softer moments amongst the chaos. The inclusion of these moments is so subtle but these fleeting instances add a lovely touch to an often manic story. The way in which McDonagh is able to juggle the complex tone is quite something, but he maybe struggles slightly with the pacing. This is only an issue in the third act of the movie which has a little trouble rounding up succinctly. Nonetheless, I imagine this issue will fade with rewatches but it was prevalent upon the initial experience. 

This fantastic group of characters that McDonagh has created are superbly brought to life by a really fine ensemble cast. Frances McDormand plays the leading role of Mildred Hayes, the formidable mother of the young murder victim the film is built around. Sam Rockwell put it very well in his Golden Globe acceptance speech for his supporting role in the film describing her as a “badass” & “a force of nature”. She allows Mildred to be funny, yet flawed and feared yet vulnerable. She’s a thoroughly entertaining character to watch and McDormand’s performance is paramount to her success. Rockwell is as inspired as ever, playing a racist police officer who few in the town take seriously. His performance here is of a similar quality to a lot of his previous work, it’s simply refreshing that the film here can match his ability and therefore garner the actor the recognition he deserves. The rest of the cast is made up of names including; Woody Harrelson, Lucas Hedges & Caleb Landry Jones amongst a whole heap of others. It’s a full cast but never feels overcrowded, McDonagh’s screenplay truly gives each member a moment to shine and the performances almost entirely live up to this.

With a few niggles here and there aside ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ is one hell of a riot from start to finish. The fascinating characters are a joy to watch and they inhabit such an unpredictable narrative full of wicked black comedy. Writer & director McDonagh has been able to get the utmost out of his ridiculously talented ensemble cast and whilst this is maybe a surprising film to be in such high awards contention it’s thoroughly deserved.

Written by Hamish Calvert

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Rating – 9/10

Question: How well do you think ‘Three Billboards’ will do at the Oscars?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)

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