Film Preview: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Page Revisions:

(March 26, 2017) Original
(September 17, 2017) New Trailer (#2) / New Poster (#2) / New Release Date (changed from “Coming Soon”)
(November 5, 2017) New Poster (#3)

Release Date:

November 10, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “”Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is a darkly comic drama from Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter’s murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town’s revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing’s law enforcement is only exacerbated.”

Poster Rating: B- / B / B-

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Review: (#1) It’s a visually compelling design with a backdrop that might seem a bit bland at first glance, holds a great deal of gorgeous detail. It conjures a landscape most Missourians will recognize for its stormy goodness. The biggest quibble I have, as a Missourian, is that the stylized version of the outline of the state of Missouri is clearly created by someone who didn’t really study the state’s flat northern border, but it’s an ultimately unimportant detail.

(#2) A gorgeous backdrop does help sell a film like this, not that specialty box office watchers will be interesting, but because it’s a striking tableau when put alongside the myriad other posters on display in theater lobbies.

(#3) The background is still lovely and the three billboards are there, but they’ve added cutouts in the shape of Missouri with each of the three primary actors in them. I’m not sure how well I like these, though at least they are given the Golden Hour glow that fits well with the time of day in the background.

Trailer Rating: A / C

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Review: (#1) Frances McDormand looks like she delivers a performance to put all her others to shame. A raucous, contentious portrayal of a mother at the end of the rope and desperate for answers. The rest of the cast, especially Woody Harrelson, look like they are capable of keeping up with her. The film looks darkly humorous and more in like with director Martin McDonagh’s first feature film, In Bruges, than it does his second, Seven Psychopaths.

(#2) The first trailer made this film out to be something worth watching. This trailer does little to sell the film. Frances McDormand spends too much time talking to a deer, the trailer doesn’t sufficiently scratch the surface of the story at the heart of the film, and there is little of the bold performances that made the first trailer so exciting.

Oscar Prospects:

Martin McDonagh has been to the Oscar rodeo once before with his screenplay for In Bruges and for his short film Six Shooter. While his second feature film, Seven Psychopaths, didn’t make any inroads, this film looks more like the kind of movie that Academy loves. Strong reviews could bolster its chances.