Movie Review

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri uses violent means for emotional ends

In just two films, writer/director Martin McDonagh has established himself as a filmmaker with unusual tastes, marrying dialogue and violence in ways reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino. His first two films — In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths — have become cult classics because of their distinct characters and styles, making his next film a must-see no matter the subject.

The unwieldy title of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is the first indication that audience members will be taken on a different kind of ride than they may be used to. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), upset with the lack of resolution in her daughter’s murder case, puts up three billboards near her home on the outskirts of town, calling out Sheriff Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) for not being able to find the killer.

Hayes’ actions cause a ripple effect throughout the community. Not everyone agrees with her tactic, especially the dimwitted and volatile Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell). But the more challenges she gets, the more determined she becomes, even if that means that she must commit acts of violence herself.

McDonagh has to strike a tricky balance in the film, keeping us on the side of a grieving mother even as she does things that are way out of bounds of accepted societal behavior. He does so by softening her outbursts with quieter moments like planting flowers underneath the billboards or reminiscing about her daughter, always keeping her motives at the forefront.

Despite what the advertising may lead you to believe, the film is not a bloody and profane free-for-all. It has its fair share of violence, but the story mostly meanders as Hayes interacts with Willoughby, Dixon, her son (Lucas Hedges), ex-husband (John Hawkes), and more. The profanity is so over the top at times, including out-of-the-blue slurs, that it’s mostly for comic effect.

Unfortunately, the plot wanders so much that it includes a handful of seemingly unnecessary subplots. One involves James (Peter Dinklage) and seems to have no purpose other than for him to be called “midget” multiple times. Thankfully, the film recovers in its final act, delivering an unexpected coda that satisfies in a way that stays true to the story without wrapping everything up in a tidy bow.

What makes Three Billboards especially different is that it offers no easy answers. Standard films would have Hayes unequivocally be the protagonist and Willoughby and Dixon be the bad guys. But McDonagh throws all kinds of nuance into the equation, a highly unusual approach for this type of movie, which keeps the audience off-balance through most of the running time.

McDormand has been giving standout performances for over 30 years, with somehow only four Oscar nominations (and one win, for Fargo) to show for it. She should be assured of a fifth nomination for this role, in which she runs a true gamut of emotions without making any of them seem false or contrived.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is at once exactly the type of movie McDonagh likes to make and something completely new. At various points, it’s thoughtful, hilarious, touching, and violent, and somehow all of them meld together for one great experience.

Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Photo by Merrick Morton

Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Movie Review

Comedy all-stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd can't save Anaconda sequel

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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