I gave this 10 stars. It might not deserve it, when compared to the pantheon of 10 star fillums out there. But for what it is ... what it sets out to do ... it's amazeballs. I've just finished watching it for the third time and I'm still in awe at how well executed it is. And I laughed out loud again at the stuff that made me laugh out loud the first time.
The negative reviews point out things that are utterly irrelevant to the aims of this fiilm. For example ... it wasn't filmed in Missouri ... Mildred wouldn't have got away with burning down the cop shop ... the airhead girl wouldn't have got with Mildred's ex ... Dixon was *too* racist even for the deep south ... WTAF? You people should stick to watching documentaries. Eish.
I'm a sucker for redemption stories and both Mildred and Dixon had very satisfying redemption arcs. What 3 Billboards did exceptionally well was set up deeply poignant character beats ... some of them left me open mouthed. Much of the time they were mixed in with black comedy (my favourite kind of comedy) but the comedy was just people being people ... it was all true to character ... I hope I could be as witty under such pressure ... and I would really try, because being funny is one of my main goals in life, and the more bleak things get, the more important it is to maintain a sense of humour. But the pathos was always there. I was emotionally involved in these characters.
I can't say any more without giving away spoilers. So I won't. I'll just say ... this was written by the same guy who wrote In Bruges ... I would say the two are similar in many ways, however IMO 3 Billboards is much more polished.
The negative reviews point out things that are utterly irrelevant to the aims of this fiilm. For example ... it wasn't filmed in Missouri ... Mildred wouldn't have got away with burning down the cop shop ... the airhead girl wouldn't have got with Mildred's ex ... Dixon was *too* racist even for the deep south ... WTAF? You people should stick to watching documentaries. Eish.
I'm a sucker for redemption stories and both Mildred and Dixon had very satisfying redemption arcs. What 3 Billboards did exceptionally well was set up deeply poignant character beats ... some of them left me open mouthed. Much of the time they were mixed in with black comedy (my favourite kind of comedy) but the comedy was just people being people ... it was all true to character ... I hope I could be as witty under such pressure ... and I would really try, because being funny is one of my main goals in life, and the more bleak things get, the more important it is to maintain a sense of humour. But the pathos was always there. I was emotionally involved in these characters.
I can't say any more without giving away spoilers. So I won't. I'll just say ... this was written by the same guy who wrote In Bruges ... I would say the two are similar in many ways, however IMO 3 Billboards is much more polished.