Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Academy Award × 2
Rent/Purchase
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
What critics thought
Frances McDormand's ferocious central performance is the one point of near-universal agreement; around it, critics argued fiercely about whether McDonagh's tonal lurches between pitch-black comedy and raw grief feel earned or contrived, and whether the film's treatment of race — particularly the redemptive arc given to Sam Rockwell's racist cop — amounts to a serious moral evasion. Festival darling turned awards-season lightning rod, the film split critics not on quality but on what it's actually saying.
“Three Billboards provided some of the strongest laughs and some of the most poignant moments of heartbreak of any movie in recent memory. This is the best movie I've seen this year.”
Richard Roeper·Chicago Sun-Times
“after an unexpected twist halfway through the film, the pacing slackens and McDonagh struggles to keep the story on track as the violence escalates to ludicrous levels”
Steve Pond·TheWrap
“a thousand cheap coincidences”
The New Yorker
“McDonagh's attempts to script the black experience in America are often fumbling and backward and full of outdated tropes.”
Ira Madison III·The Daily Beast
“by turns hellaciously hilarious and deeply sorrowful, the film hits you where it hurts.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
Genres
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorMartin McDonagh
StarringFrances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges
ComposerCarter Burwell
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Academy Award × 2
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
What critics thought
Frances McDormand's ferocious central performance is the one point of near-universal agreement; around it, critics argued fiercely about whether McDonagh's tonal lurches between pitch-black comedy and raw grief feel earned or contrived, and whether the film's treatment of race — particularly the redemptive arc given to Sam Rockwell's racist cop — amounts to a serious moral evasion. Festival darling turned awards-season lightning rod, the film split critics not on quality but on what it's actually saying.
“Three Billboards provided some of the strongest laughs and some of the most poignant moments of heartbreak of any movie in recent memory. This is the best movie I've seen this year.”
Richard Roeper·Chicago Sun-Times
“after an unexpected twist halfway through the film, the pacing slackens and McDonagh struggles to keep the story on track as the violence escalates to ludicrous levels”
Steve Pond·TheWrap
“a thousand cheap coincidences”
The New Yorker
“McDonagh's attempts to script the black experience in America are often fumbling and backward and full of outdated tropes.”
Ira Madison III·The Daily Beast
“by turns hellaciously hilarious and deeply sorrowful, the film hits you where it hurts.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
Genres
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorMartin McDonagh
StarringFrances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges
ComposerCarter Burwell
Rent/Purchase