Okay, I got complaints...
Okay, I thought this was a good movie...
... but ...
i. Sam Rockwell's character seems to undergo a sudden change near the end of the movie. For most of it, he's barely competent, barely intelligent and talks like he has a grade school IQ. Then he reads Willoughby's letter and suddenly he talks different, he cleverly susses out how to get a DNA sample, he's respectful and thoughtful with Mildred and the new commanding officer...
When he learns of Mildred's part in setting the fire that scarred him, he accepts it with complete equanimity.
It's like he drifted in from a different movie...
ii. Some of the off-the-wall humour seemed out of place. Examples:
* Dixon and Mildred arguing about Dixon's torturing of blacks. Dixon completely misses Mildred's sarcasm and argues that it's now deemed to be 'person-of-colour torturing'. That whole exchange was straining to be funny, but it just came off as inept writing.
* Dixon so engrossed in Willoughby's letter that he's oblivious to the flickering of the fire on the walls around him.
* The "Is it polio or polo?" bit with Charlie's 19-year-old bimbo gf. Also, the bit where Dinklage's character asks with skepticism: "Did she really use the word 'beget'?"
iii. Characters in this movie inflict violence with no consequences. Dixon tosses a guy out of a second story window without cause and gets fired. That's all? Pretty sure he would be facing disciplinary action and court appearances. Similarly, Mildred kicks two students in the crotch... nothing happens. Unlike the dentist incident and the fire, this is witnessed by lots of people so there's no way she can explain her way out of it.
And the son who puts a big-ass butcher knife to his dad's throat? Dad and Mom act like it's no big deal.
iv. I thought Woody Harrelson shone in this movie, but he doesn't seem to getting as much recognition.
Two scenes:
The one at the beginning where he admits to Mildred he's dying of cancer. The visible hurt on his face and in his voice when he learns that she knows he's dying and yet still put up the billboards.
The later scene at the hospital where he's joking with his wife. She leaves briefly (to get the car?). His face ever so slowly comes apart as he realizes how little time he has left. Man, that scene just killed me.