Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Um, Yeah

Listen, I love Martin McDonagh. The Irish playwright and filmmaker is responsible for In Bruges, one of the best black comedies ever, and he also wrote the marvelous Cripple of Inishmaan, which I was fortunate enough to see on Broadway three years ago. So when I heard that he had a new movie starring Frances McDormand that was Fargo-esque except even darker, I was 100% on board. However, as much as I have revelled in McDonagh's ability to create really dark comedy, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is officially too dark for me.

Frances McDormand plays Mildred Hayes, a grieving mother who is furious that the local police have done nothing to find the man who raped and killed her daughter seven months ago. When she sees three empty billboards along a lonely stretch of road, she decides to rent them and plaster them with a message accusing the Sheriff of inaction in her daughter's case. Naturally this causes a ruckus in town, with the police officers enraged and townspeople taking sides on whether to support Mildred or the well-meaning Sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). Complicating matters are the actions of Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) a man with serious anger and racism issues.

Based on that description, you must be wondering how on earth this even gets categorized as a comedy. And that really is owing to McDonagh's brilliance with dialog. There are moments throughout this movie where you will burst out laughing at the blistering language (like when Mildred sets down a priest) or a twisted action that is so weird and out of left field that you simply have to laugh. There's absolutely nothing predictable about this movie. From start to finish, you will have no idea what to expect next, and by the time you get to the end, you will leave the theater in a bit of a daze.

The trouble with this film, as opposed to McDonagh's previous work, is that he is poking at some very sore subjects here. A teenage girl has been raped and burned alive. Racism, domestic abuse, and police brutality have been hot button issues for years now, and the film's treatment of them seems gravely misjudged. No amount of filthy banter and camaraderie is going to make me feel OK about how certain white characters get a redemption arc and others are just stereotypical hicks. The film is violent, graphic, and jarring, and while every single performance is incredible, I'm surprised so many critics love it without reservation. Yes, these are talented actors, working off a surprising and novel script, but oh man. This is a problematic movie.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is up for a lot of awards and people seem to be in two camps about it. I really wanted to love it, but I shall be putting it aside as one of McDonagh's lesser works. Call me a snowflake if you will, but I cannot in good conscience recommend something that lets white people get away with so much in the name of "black comedy."