Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) (with some SPOILERS)

... will not be my pick for Best Picture at the Oscars, BAFTAs, or any other film award.

As a piece of entertainment, it kept me interested throughout - although frequently my credulity was strained - can a cop in the USA really throw a man out of a second-floor window, punch a woman in the face, and then proceed to kick the defenestrated man in full view of his newly arrived superior (who is painted as the justice-minded clean broom) and a street full of witnesses, and fail to suffer no consequences beyond losing his job?

There are a multitude of other events that pass with no consequences - in fact the only person who faces any form of legal consequences is the character who is locked up for possession of marijuana.

It's well shot, the dialogue decently written, the characters interesting (although hardly true to life) and well-acted, the comedy sporadic and often crude but usually funny (if you haven't already caught most of the best jokes in the trailer), and sporadically violent (and shuddersome - particularly with the dentist drill scene).

However, the fact that I couldn't believe the cause-but-no-effect approach to the storytelling, which pulled me out of the world of the film knocks several points off the film. If it had been an out-and-out comedy then I could have coped with that, but the story is a mix of black comedy with straight drama, which means I needed a little more verisimilitude.