As I sat there watching this movie, it occurred to me. The two people who adamantly pressed me to watch this movie have not been raised on these kinds of movies. And believe this to be refreshing new and unique. Nope. This is well worn road.
I am a Robert Benton fan. And Martin McDonagh is no Robert Benton.
For a few reasons.
The words placed in the actors mouths are exactly how they should be. In other words, I saw every word on the page. It's aggravating and trite and...painfully overwritten. Similar to "In Bruges" except, in that case you can hide it in accents. Every line predictable to the silliness of the movie. This movie wants you to think terminal cancer is funny.
The story is of Mildred Hayes, a bitter woman who just lost a daughter to a brutal murder. She's played by Frances McDormand (let's face it, she was born to play these type of roles. And Jesus, don't people ever give her a more modern name?). Distraught with the way the local police chief is handling the case, she buys three billboards to antagonize him into action. What starts off as a battle of wills turns into...fuck if I know. It's not that anymore. In fact, halfway through, the story implodes on itself and you wonder whatever happened to the case to begin with. It, in fact, starts to focus on a deputy named Sam Rockwell. A simple minded and buried deep down full hearted sidekick who is more dumb bulldog than crime-fighter (where have we seen this before, right EVERY FUCKING small town sheriff movie ever made, look up "Nobody's Fool" to see it played better). Mildred continues to antagonize the chief, even though his reasoning is actually sound. To the viewer anyway. She just becomes ridiculously annoying. Supposedly she is an oak and allows no one to push her around. Even though she is physically abused by an ex-husband who is presently dating a 19 year bubble head. Are you laughing yet?
Woody Harrelson plays the police chief is called out to do something about the situation. After all the billboard calls him out. Which...I'm not sure what the big deal is. It's a road no one travels on, but gets...television coverage on? (Mildred later on blasts the same news crew...can anyone explain why? That was her ally).
There are movie makers in this world that refuse, absolutely refuse to give you a breath of...optimism. McDonagh is one of them. Which, it's critical reviews says more about the lack of material and foundation of storytelling than the actual movie itself. This movie ISN'T awful, it's just so...bland. Everything is borrowed from every other whimsical look in small town idiosyncrasies. And look, they even threw in a dwarf (Peter Dinklage) who is the brightest thing in this slog of a movie.
Two things truly bother me about this movie (besides the fact that things are done without consequences) 1) Frances McDormand was a far better version of this painfully bitter small town woman in "Olive Kitteridge" which I doubt the general public has seen. 2) there are no redeemable characters, which is perfectly fine, unless you insist that there be closure between the two characters left standing that share a new conquest...for what reason? I'm sure someone would know.
This movie just proved to me how little people actually research past films that could balance this type of "dark humor" properly. Or quaint small town living through a dark event. Which, by the way, no one...and I mean ZIPPO people have sympathy for this family (and how is it, in a one street town, do people not know each other this intimately?)
Now let's all step back and look at the bigger picture of this movie...if someone were standing next to a campfire telling you this tale, would you even give a fuck? My number one anticipation of the entire story would be to know a few resolved threads, that McDonagh refuses to conclude. Remember the type of movie maker he actually is.
No comments:
Post a Comment