Mildred (Frances McDormand) wanted justice. Her daughter was raped and murdered six months ago and the police have made no arrests. In order to remind Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) that the case is pending, she rented three accusatory billboards with the chief's name on the last. Unsurprisingly, the news media reported the billboards.
Chief Willoughby was a competent police chief and well-liked by the citizens. Though he would like nothing more than to solve the crime, there were no leads and no evidence to follow. He has nothing but compassion and understanding for Mildred's point of view, but there isn't anything he can do. On top of that, he has terminal cancer.
Deputy Dixon (Sam Rockwell) was a racist bully who was completely loyal to Chief Willoughby. He was more offended by the billboards than the chief and intended to do something about them. One thing was to confront the man who rented them to Mildred: Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones). This visit involved beating the man and tossing him from a second story window. This clearly criminal behavior was witnessed by a senior officer who did nothing more than fire Dixon from the force. Yeah, that's some justice for you.
Mildred, Willoughby, and Dixon are the three main characters and each is surrounded by support characters. Mildred has an ex-husband (John Hawkes), a son (Lucas Hedges), a man eager to date her (Peter Dinklage), and Father Montgomery (Nick Searcy). Willoughby has a wife (Abbie Cornish) and daughters. Dixon has his mother (Sandy Martin). The movie revolves around them, initially with Willoughby standing between Mildred and Dixon, but later with Mildred and Dixon coming to an accord.
Of all the characters, Dixon has the most dramatic character arc. He begins as quite detestable but ends as a man who is seeking redemption. Still, he should be in jail for tossing Red out the window and smacking Red's secretary in the face. Willoughby is the only one who was likeable throughout, a really decent man who was dealt some tough cards to play.
Both Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell won Oscars for their performances. Rockwell did an impressive job of bringing Dixon to life and making him both a terrible human being but also one who improves through adversity. By contrast, McDormand is just a grieving mother who is acting out. She is the same person at the end as at the beginning.
Just okay.
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