Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI  (2017)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Martin McDonagh
    Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell,
    Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Caleb Landry Jones
This is either a comedy with a real dark edge, or a drama with a dark sense of humor. It's about a woman named Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) who rents three billboards along a highway nobody uses anymore, castigating the local police chief for not finding out who raped and killed her daughter. To say that Mildred is a piece of work would be an understatement. If Marge Gunderson in "Fargo" was like an earth mother of the frozen north, Mildred's a combative, ass-kicking bitch on wheels. She's pissed off, she'll take on anybody, and she couldn't care less who she offends in the process. Woody Harrelson plays the police chief, a shrewd, affable guy who's got personal issues of his own. (He's dying of cancer.) Sam Rockwell's a hot-headed cop, a psychopath who shouldn't get within ten miles of a badge and a gun. Why he's allowed to stay on the force at all is a puzzlement. There's a little bit of "Hell or High Water" going on here, but not quite. It's very much its own thing, with enough unconventional turns and shifts of character to hook you, even if you can't buy into everything that's going on. Harrelson plays the dying chief with a wry comic edge - the scene where he takes his young daughters fishing and leaves them by the river with an army of stuffed animals, so he and the Mrs. can slip off alone with a blanket and a bottle of wine is a highlight - and Rockwell is just plain scary - the kind of cop you hear about sometimes, but wouldn't want to meet up with ever. McDormand's the one in command here, though, and from the first frame to the last, it's never in doubt. When you see Mildred Hayes drive into town in her station wagon, or cross the street to read the riot act to a bunch of tough-guy cops, you'd better get the hell out of her way.