iTunes Exclusive Episode Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

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Greetings Empire member and or members.
If you are hearing the sound of my voice right now the following conditions have been met.
At least once in your life you have checked out the clubhouse podcast.
Your one-stop shop for all things pop culture live every 7-day night, 7-Eastern 4 Pacific.
But it also means you check us out on your favorite podcast app.
Because that means you're with us and it means it's time for another iTunes exclusive.
Sequentially, 331.
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My name is Rob. I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast.
And this is going to be interesting.
But I'm not alone for this particular episode.
Joining me across the desk as he tends to do from time to time is the official fact checker of this show.
And a man who knows Montana.
But he may not know Missouri.
And I'm going to be there in a couple of weeks.
Missouri that is.
You may know him as fond, don't go but as mama name him, don't for it.
I'm going to calm down for it. Welcome sir.
You should go to Montana with me sometime.
I would love to go to Montana.
I would love to see Montana.
Not in a way.
No, come on.
I don't want to pull the wrong white.
What's the temperature outside?
There isn't one.
I like cold. I don't like that cold.
Okay.
I mean I'll layer it up.
Martin McDonough, you might remember him as the director and the writer of Side the Seven Psychopaths.
A movie that came out a few years ago that I quite enjoyed.
This is a new film he's got.
And it's called Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.
We're going to start this whole thing.
Yes sir.
We're such fans of those guys.
Let me know that he's early so that we can review them for you.
Now we were kind of doing a divide and conquer thing on this.
Another one of our iTunes exclusives that we recorded right before this one.
Yeah that's how I saw this.
We did divide and conquer both by slot.
We did because we want to make sure that we take care of the empire.
We want to give them as much as we possibly can.
So it's very very difficult to describe this film without giving a lot away.
What are those?
Oh.
So what I'm going to do for you is I'm going to read for you the official IMDB description for this.
Alright.
In this darkly comic drama, a mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
So let me run down this cast for you.
Francis McDorman, the prouder stuck into driveway.
Caleb Landry Jones, who you've been seeing a lot lately.
Sam Rockwell, who you know I'm a huge fan of.
Oh yeah.
Woody Harrelson.
Love him.
Peter Dinklage.
Wow.
Okay.
Okay.
Francis McDorman plays the mother that's trying to raise awareness for the investigation of her daughter's death.
The poster for this is actually pretty much the opening scene of the film.
I will say straight up, for real, this film is not for everybody.
Really?
When I say this is a dark comedy, this is a dark comedy.
There's a lot of material in this film that people, there will be people that find offensive.
Is it kind of like in a way like Book of Mormon?
No, no, no.
I wouldn't call it Book of Mormon.
No way you know what you're getting into because some people will probably be offended.
I would say that's part of the reason people are listening to this review.
Okay.
You have to know that this is not, this is going to get weird.
It's right out about an hour 50.
This is not a film that, it's not the feel good movie of the year.
Understand.
There are some moments that you will laugh out loud.
There are some moments that I laughed out loud.
Okay.
It's an excellent film.
Let me put this out there.
This is an excellent, excellent film.
I very much enjoyed this film.
But there's going to be a lot of people that probably listen to this podcast that might be uncomfortable in this film.
Because this deals with some very, very dark subject matter that goes really far down a multiple rabbit holes from that standpoint.
There are issues of race that come up.
There are issues when you deal with the nature of the death of her daughter, which I'm not going to go into because it is a bit of a spoiler.
But when you write a script like McDonald's written, it takes a very special cast to do this right.
And this cast does.
The interaction between everybody, this thing takes some very strange turns.
And it takes place.
Ebbing Missouri is a very small town.
It's one of those towns where everybody knows everybody.
Yeah.
So every decision that's made by any character in this film reverberates through the entire rest of the cast.
This is a very, very well constructed story.
It is a very, very well executed story.
But again, not for everybody.
I mean, this films, it's got some skins on the wall.
You know, it was selected for, it was a winner at the Venice Film Festival this year.
It was a winner at the Toronto Film Festival this year.
It was part of BFI London this year.
It was a winner at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
It was a winner at the San Diego Film Festival.
This thing has been making the rounds.
But it's also one of those films that, again, niche audience.
I'm just going to say it.
If you bring the kids, you're going to have to deal with the questions you're going to have to answer on the way home.
It's one of those.
It's 94% on Rotten Tomatoes right now.
Would you give it a fresh?
I would.
I very much enjoyed it.
Okay.
I very much enjoyed this film.
But my thing is, I was surprised.
Because it was a packed house when we were there.
As they tend to do.
Yeah.
As they tend to do with our friends.
But I was surprised there wasn't more of an uneasy feeling in the audience.
I really, really was.
Friend of the show James Faust was there.
He, I like to spoke briefly after the film.
He really liked it.
But not to the level of some of the films we've seen that we may have counted that.
I was going to ask that.
You see me when I've been uneasy watching films.
I don't know that you would have been uneasy watching this.
I think there may have been a couple of sections where you went.
Ooh.
Okay.
That was a bit.
But not where.
Not that would make you want to walk in.
You know where I'm.
It's like, oh, you know, I mean, yeah.
It's a lot about the consequences of interactions.
Okay.
And consequences of the consequences.
Is that makes any sense?
Yeah.
This is a true ensemble film.
Even though it's, it's Francis McDormand's character story.
It is an ensemble film.
Because there's multiple, there's a lot going on here.
There's a lot of different things going on to the point where you go.
Ooh.
Okay.
I need to slow down just a little bit.
One of the things I was really, one of the performances I really, really got into here
was Sandy Martin, who plays Sam Rockwell's character's mom.
This is one of those actors that you've seen a billion times.
She's been on it's always Sunny and Philadelphia.
Who's that again?
Her name is Sandy Martin.
Okay.
I remember her from it's always Sunny and Philadelphia because she plays Maximum.
She's one of those that, she's, she's that woman in that thing.
Yeah.
Like, you see her a billion times.
I mean, she's got, so I'm going down her IMDB and she's done a ton of work.
She is really, really good in this and very, very entertaining.
And if you remember her from it's always Sunny and Philadelphia.
She plays that same type of character, same haircut and everything.
Her interactions with Sam Rockwell are nothing short of brilliant.
Rockwell's character is more of, he's a local cop.
He's kind of a bumbling idiot.
He's kind of, he's that cop in the small town because it was like the only job he could get.
Kind of, kind of a guy.
And he's not smart.
He kind of relies on Woody Harrelson's character.
Because Woody Harrelson's character is, is the local, local, basically he's the sheriff.
Okay.
And he's kind of keeping him protected under his wing, but it's not working very well.
Oh boy.
It's, it's a, there's moments in this film that are very, very heartwarming.
There are moments in this film that are just downright offensive.
Now, you talk about the, you know, how the movie flows.
Does it, does it do a lot of flashbacking, back and forth, back and forth?
No, everything's, everything's in current time.
Remember how we saw Wind River?
And the only time it really flashback was when you figured out what happened that night.
Is there a car?
No.
No.
There, there are a couple of moments that, that you have to get some backstory on,
especially when it comes to Mildred's daughter.
And Mildred's daughter is also played by the same young lady who played the older daughter on,
Hilton Catch Fire.
Okay.
The last couple of seasons.
She's very, very good as well.
But really, because you know I'm such a fan of, of San Rockwell.
I could watch that guy with a phone book.
Yeah.
He really sells this, this role.
And of course, Frances McDormand.
I mean, Oscar Award winner.
Did she won for Fargo, correct?
Let me do that.
Yeah, double-checked.
You're the fact checker.
She absolutely brings her A game here.
And she was a little concerned about taking this role apparently from what I've read.
She wasn't sure that at her age, she could sell having a daughter who would have been that age.
Yeah, she won Best Actress in, in Fargo 97.
But been nominated for Best, from Mississippi Burning for Best Actress in almost famous.
I mean, Best Actress in supporting role.
And then also supporting role for Oscar in North Country.
You know, she's married to Joel Cohen.
And so they would go back and forth.
And he finally just said, just shut up and do it.
And I'm glad he did, because she's really, really good in this.
She conveys the anger and the emotion really, really well.
And she's a tough lady.
She's a tough, tough lady in this.
And it comes through.
I really enjoyed this film, but again, not for everybody.
I'm just saying.
Yeah.
Again, this thing takes some weird turns to where you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Okay, that's what we're doing.
Fair enough.
All right.
I don't know what else I could say.
Is it brutal?
I wouldn't say there's a modicum of violence.
Nothing that made me cringe.
Is it realistic brutality?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, there's fights.
But you know why I'm wearing something by realistic brutality?
And was it violence or violence safe?
No, the violence because it was needed.
No, it helped you understand the violence helped me understand the depths of some of the characters.
Okay.
Because the lengths that she goes to is the basis of the entire film.
And like I said, this entire film is about consequences and consequences of those consequences.
Okay.
And we can talk about it off air if you want to.
Yeah.
But again, I want to stay spoiler free.
But I think you're ready for the final analysis.
Okay.
The way we do the final analysis on the show, we're not going to give you thumbs up, thumbs down, anything like that.
What we're going to do is Don's going to ask me up to two questions.
Question number one is, would I see this film again?
If the answer's no, we're done here.
But if the answer's yes, the follow a question is, how far am I willing to go to see it?
From the best of the best of the worst of the best, full price at the theater, twilight, matinee, early morning, second run at the dollar theater,
leaving my house to go to red box, streaming on Netflix or cable.
Rob, yes sir.
Would you see this film again?
Absolutely.
And what level are you willing to see it at?
See, that's where it gets tricky for me.
It wouldn't offend me to pay full price for this, but I'm not committed to that.
I would lean more towards a matinee.
All right.
Or a twilight, would you say twilight?
I would say twilight.
I mean, anything from matinee forward, I'd kind of be okay with.
But it wouldn't hurt my feelings as somebody said, Rob, I really shouldn't pay full price for this.
Okay.
Just because you've got to be a special kind of person to see this film and enjoy it for what it is.
It's going to make people uncomfortable because of the nature of it.
Yeah.
But it's an excellent film.
I mean, people told me going in, Rob, to say this is a dark comedy is an understatement.
So I was kind of prepared for that.
So that when I saw it, I was kind of like, okay, I can see where this is coming from.
Yeah.
There's a lot going on here.
And yes, I mean, there's moments that I'm laughing and there's moments that I'm going, whoa, that just happened.
There's moments that I'm going, why am I laughing at this?
Yeah.
And just so that we're clear, because I know there's a lot of Game of Thrones fans out there.
Dinklage is in this, but he's not in it very much.
But his part is very pivotal, especially in the third act.
So be aware of that.
All right.
Throw in this whole thing.
Hold on, we got to remind everybody.
Yeah.
Directed and written by Martin McDonough.
It is three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Now.
Yes, sir.
We got to take everybody at Slyfox, Caitlin.
Zee Nilly.
Zee Nilly.
Zee Nilly.
Zee Nilly.
Such fans of those guys, they take care of us.
They let us see movies.
Great.
So we can tell you about them.
That being said, let's do the plugs.
Visit our website, www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
Find out everything you need to know.
Find out some stuff you don't.
Follow us on social media.
Twitter is ClubhouseShow.
Everything else is the Clubhouse podcast.
All three words in that order or you wind up somewhere else.
You can follow me on social media.
I would appreciate it.
Everything is yes.
That Rob Irvin.
That is spelled E-R-V-I-N.
My normal co-hosts for this show is Chad Womack.
You can follow him at ChadNPG69.
You can find Donco and it's two A's in the beginning, three O's at the end.
You can also email me at Don at ClubhousePodcast.com.
Email Don for information on how we can come to a live show for you.
We love doing live shows and hanging out with the Empire.
You can email me questions, comments, concerns.
Tell me to go pound sand.
I am Rob at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Chad is Chad at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that.
Jules Womack hanging out with Chad because that's what they do.
And the fabulous faith forward waiting on our husband to get home.
Our normal show every Sunday night, seven Easter and four Pacific is your one stop shop for all things pop culture.
Or just keep subscribing on your favorite podcast app and to get all the cool stuff like this.
So until next time for Don and the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed and you really could find a place for Brittany Palmer in this.
I'm just saying.
I'm just saying.