Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a wild ride

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri came out in 2017 but I just saw it for the first time. I’m late to the party. It showed up on Hulu, where I watched it. I knew it was going to be good because it won so many awards at the time, but I was surprised by how unexpected and clever it was.

I did post the trailer back in 2017 and intended to see the film, but somehow never made it happen. There’s more information in that old post about the film, if you’re curious.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is 57 different kinds of problematic. Every kind of politically incorrect stupid thing that could come out of a person’s mouth was spoken aloud in this movie. I wish they had found a different way to make the characters into ignorant small town bigots, but this is what they went with.

A brilliant cast led by Frances McDormand as Mildred lifted the film into something special. It was full of goofy plot points and unexpected turns and character arcs that set it apart from most movies.

Mildred’s daughter had been raped and killed several months before. She was angry that the local police hadn’t found the killer. Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) tried explaining to her that there were no clues of any kind to help him find a suspect, but Mildred didn’t care.

Mildred put 3 red billboards up aimed at Chief Willoughby, and the situation went downhill from that.

Sam Rockwell as Deputy Dixon was phenomenal in his role. He was a violent, ignorant man and an unlikely candidate to have a redeeming character arc, but that’s what happened.

The supporting cast included actors like Peter Dinklage, Caleb Landry Jones, Kerry Condon, Clarke Peters, Abbie Cornish, Zeljko Ivanek, Amanda Warren, Sandy Martin, and Malaya Rivera Drew. There was a lot of good work there, but McDormand, Harrelson, and Rockwell were the heart of the story.

The characters did everything wrong. They made mistakes, acted out of violence and idiocy, and caused problems for each other at every turn. It was funny and heartwarming. The thing I liked most was that it kept surprising me. If you missed it years ago when it first came out, it’s worth finding on Hulu.