I can't say with any real authority that "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" is the worst movie ever made, but it is definitely the worst one I have ever seen.

Every single choice made by everyone involved in the production was gallingly awful.

The movie is about a fictional town in Missouri where people brutally assault each other and are not punished. I would say that this is a very apt nod to the film's relationship with the viewer, but I have trouble believing that the "film maker" is capable of such self-awareness. In fact, I have trouble believing that he has ever witnessed an actual human being speak or interact with other human beings.

At one point, one of the characters who is very sympathetic because they are facing impossibly horrific adversity (don't worry about that being a spoiler, it doesn't narrow down the cast of characters at all) commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. But before he does, knowing his wife will find his body, he puts a bag on his head that says "don't look inside the bag."

Seriously! It was one of the first of countless moments where I looked around the theater to see if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing.

One other great moment I have to tip my hat too is when the main character, haunted by the brutal rape of her daughter (which takes place--enigmatically--while her daughter is being brutally burned with gasoline after being brutally beaten) thinks back wistfully to their final conversation. It concludes with the main character shouting at her daughter "I hope you get raped!" Giving credit where it's due, this is admirably more restrained than having her say "I hope you get raped while you're being burned alive!" But it's just like... "Wow, I guess she probably really regrets saying that. I was sort of on the fence about how painful the wounds were as regards her daughter's brutal rape that happened while she was on fire, but I guess the emotional stakes are pretty high."

Submitted February 06, 2018 at 08:53AM by PMcCullough http://ift.tt/2BIif8v