Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

O

OldCorpse

Rockin the Boat
This has been a massive critical and commercial success with 9 Oscar nominations. Spoilers may follow.

Frankly, I'm mystified by all this acclaim. I mean, I like all the actors, and indeed they delivered very good performances. BUT. They didn't do anything out of the ordinary (for them), that I can tell. If anything, I feel like Frances McDormand did her ususal "schtick", with emphasis on the schtick part. I think her performances in other films have often been more subtle and deeper than what we get here. The problem for me, is that she goes a bit "broad strokes" here - starting with the beginning when she stops at the billboards for the first time and hams it up (I feel) with that hangnail biting. That sets the dubious tone. Sam Rockwell is too broad also. Woody is his usual self - but no more than that. And that's the problem with the film writ large. It really lacks any subtlety and the points are made with a sledgehammer. Realism is out of the window, even movie realism - I understand that this is a "dark comedy", and movie realism standards for a comedy are always a bit more loose, but what we get here is quite egregious. Developments which are jammed in, just so that there is reason for further plot developments. Very forced and unnatural. Example: when a "bad guy" comes into the gift shop to harrass Mildred. There really is zero motivation, and just a set up to allow Rockwell to do some "investigatin'" and then take that last ride with Frances to end the movie. Everything painfully hamfisted. Dwarf as an alibi/date - har, har. "Touching" moments, which are all uber calculated and ring false. The racial angle feels tacked on, and none of the AA characters feel integrated with the white characters. It just plum doesn't work.

All that said, it's not an unpleasant watch. The settings are nice. I can't hate it. It doesn't evoke hostility. I think it was barely watchable, but I would not repeat the experience. And I did watch it to the end, unlike Lady Bird, which I just noped out after about 20 minutes or so, out of mind-numbing boredom. YMMV.

2.5 stars out of 5.
 
I Just liked this movie because in several places the plot turns actually surprised me, where in most movies they REALLY telegraph where they are going with everything. Not enough films do that these days. I'm not sure if this is a BEST PICTURE but if they gave an award for a VERY GOOD ALMOST EXCELLENT picture it should get it.
 
I actually enjoyed it a whole lot. I loved that the movie concentrated heavily on narrative. It's just really lovely to see a movie that doesn't try to impress other film makers but instead just tells a story with emotion. Not every movie needs to be a Kubrick masterpiece, Coen quirky or Deakins cinematographed. All of whom I love to bits as well! ;)
 
I largely agree with your analysis, but I loved the film. I questioned whether it needed the letters or if the ending was too late in the narrative or too early, but the bottom line is I really liked the movie, so who cares? It was a bit of an homage to Cohen Brothers movies, but it still felt fresh and inventive.
 
Yeah I loved the film, one of the best of the last year or so. "Call me by your name" is my favorite of the last year.
And yeah It also felt like a cohen brothers movie to me. If I did not know anything about this movie, I would have guessed it was shot by them.
 
Justin Kuhn said:
So...not as good as In Bruges, then.
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I'm always dismayed by the fondness people have for In Bruges. I hate that film. Not only is it trash (IMO), but features two - count 'em - TWO actors I just can't stand, Ralph Fiennes (who, to be fair, can *very occassionally* be OK), and Colin Farrell who is consitently dreadful (seriously, has there ever been a single good Colin Farrell perfomance, anywhere, any time?). A film that trades in nothing but cliches, and features a nonsensical plot that somehow they try to imbue with unearned emotion. Feh, hateful stuff.

It just goes to show, I guess, that tastes differ. IMHO, Three Bilboards is vastly superior to In Bruges, because just about anything would be, IMHO. YMMV, of course, horses for courses, to each their own etc.
 
OldCorpse said:
I'm always dismayed by the fondness people have for In Bruges. I hate that film. Not only is it trash (IMO) dot dot dot
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He may have been mocking you, Oldy. Have you made your feelings known about In Bruges before?

Despite all that annoyed you, you still found it borderline pleasant? I found it mightily pleasant, but by the end I was wishing that it had actually been made tv length instead. Trying to fit so much into movie runtime also made a lot of it feel "tacked on" to me. Rockwell's character being made sympathetic after 2 short scenes made me lol.
 
Bad things you don't want to happen to you or who you are rooting for, child death, cancer

Attributes you dont like in yourself or the character you are rooting for.. racism, bias against those with a different physicality.

It is somewhat refreshing to see the good/bad cards above sprinkled between the good 'guys' and the bad guys compared to giving the good 'guys' all the nice cards.

But that is basically a formula in british TV drama already.

So the formula.. well it felt like.. a fomula.

A better formula than the traditional hero/villain.

As for those key subjects child death/racism Im not completely sure they are appropriate for the light treatment that is black humour.

But I still liked it..
 
It is like Coen Bros but not quite. McDonagh’s plays are a good place to start. The Lieutenents of Inishmore’s second act opens with the stage soaked stage left to right in blood, on stage! His style is really seen when one of the thugs goes on and on about having to kill a cat to lure out an adversary. “None of us enjoyed killin’ that cat, Joey-O, I almost started cryin meself as the blood...” The juxtaposition of this sensitivity to murdering cats to the planned murder of a disloyal friend lets us know that under the right circumstances we can all succumb to dark forces and with less drama than we think. I find this puts the audience in a very curious and useful place.

What I like best about his work, and it shows up in Billboards, is the combination of outrageous circumstances and banal human reaction. Like the gag about the badge, or even in Mildred’s inability to shake her rage. It’s not empathetic, in that we don’t get sucked into the pain It keeps us at a distance so that we will consider it with clearer, less drenched, attention.

For my money, this satirical approach, and his great dialog is preferable in every way to the sentimental crap we see in modern favorites like “This is Us.” Now that, I cannot stand for a minute! People talking about how they feel should be a felony!
 
Watched it back-to-back with Lady Bird. I prefer a movie which tells a story -- Three Billboards -- to one which simply follows a character around for a slice of her life, with no real movement -- Lady Bird.
 
David Jimerson said:
Watched it back-to-back with Lady Bird. I prefer a movie which tells a story -- Three Billboards -- to one which simply follows a character around for a slice of her life, with no real movement -- Lady Bird.
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So funny! That's exactly what I did, watched both back to back. As I wrote, I got so bored with Lady Bird, I abandoned it after 20 minutes - and I rarely abandon movies. But Lady Bird was just excruciatingly boring (to me), with zero development and seemingly promising none.

The following day I watched another movie which I actually liked a lot, which I thought was massively superior, which also deals with a young woman, coming of age, etc. - I should do a separate thread some time - "Princess Cyd" (2017) :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053440/

So superior to Lady Bird, it's no contest, but made no waves at all. Too bad.
 
I felt Three Billboards was a fantastic film, with a script that turned with clockwork-like precision. All executed perfectly by the cast, who should ALL have won Oscars, including the director.

Ladybird, not so much...
Shape of Water, not my cup of tea...but it looked beautiful and could have given Deakins a run for his money. But I'm still glad Roger won.
 
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OK digging up old threads. Finally watched Three Billboards. Thought it was a masterclass in dramatic acting and direction that kept me flowing along the story as it unfolded. Literally one of the better films I've seen in recent years.
 
Justin Kuhn said:
So...not as good as In Bruges, then.
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Hmmm... close.... but not quite for me. I just happened to re-watch In Bruges a few nights ago... and still think there are some great moments in that film. But Three Billboards is wonderful too. McDonagh always has memorable dialogue similar to certain Cohen Bro films.
 
I really liked Woody in this movie. He doesn't have a ton a scenes but there is a seasoning in his acting that only comes with age. Very sincere and kind of understated. A long way away from tending bar at Cheers! It is interesting how careers end up from where they started.
 
Agree with the OP. It was a fine movie, but I didn’t love it. Felt like a Coen Bros knockoff.
 
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