Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Director: Martin McDonagh
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 2.0

Enraged Mom Mildred (Frances McDormand) rents out three billboards to call out Police Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) for failing to apprehend the individuals who raped and murdered her daughter ... and almost everyone disapproves of her doing this and tries to stop her. I always get the feeling when watching something by McDonagh that he (a.) doesn't hold his characters in the highest regard (he seems to revel in mocking Sam Rockwell's dimwitted cop and Peter Dinklage just for being short) and doesn't seem to have a grasp of the Midwest (oh boy, the police are racist) and (b.) doesn't really care to make his situations entirely believable or provide valid motives for behavior - do the townies disapprove of the signs because of Willoughby's health or because they're fine with teenage girls being incinerated? Why does the unlikely team of McDormand and Rockwell think that going after someone Rockwell thinks 'looks like a rapist' (but was nowhere near McDormand's daughter) is going to prove anything? McDonaugh is lucky he assembled such an esteemed cast (even John Hawkes makes an appearance) or else this would have been downright insulting. Joel Coen just FaceTimed ... he wants his muse back.