Sam Rockwell as Officer Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actor at the 90th Annual Oscars (2017)

Notable Quote:

“You do not call an officer of the law a fucking prick in his own station-house, Mrs. Hayes. Or anywhere, actually.” (This isn’t the most representative quote of the character, but I’d prefer not to print a slur in this column.)

Synopsis:

Did you, at any point during summer 2020, see a Black Lives Matter protest and think, ya know, bummer for black people, but I really feel bad for the police? Boy do I have a film for you.

The character:

For my money, the most important thing to know about Officer Jason Dixon (and this movie broadly) is that he apparently once tortured a Black man in custody, and the film thinks of this as a goofy character trait, rather than as a horrifying crime for which the victim has never gotten justice. Who was this Black man, you ask? Meh, who knows, let’s talk more about the pain of white people! We also see Jason literally toss a guy out of a window for no reason, likely leaving him fucked up for life, but again, it’s played as slapstick.

If that wasn’t enough, here are some more traits of Jason. In addition to torturing Black people, he’s a regular low-grade bigot, throwing out all kinds of slurs. He’s seemingly drunk 24/7. He’s a complete mama’s boy. And he’s the dumbest dumb fuck to ever walk the earth, which is another thing the movie thinks is a great joke, because lol, someone is dumb, that’s pretty funny, right? Right!?!?

Of course Jason gets a vague redemption arc, because why would we worry about the actual victims of this incompetent, violent cop, I just want him to feel better! This redemption comes in the form of 1) someone saying he’s a decent person deep inside (we have seen nothing to suggest this) and 2) him trying to help solve the rape case driving the story, never mind the fact that having not solved this case is very much NOT what he needs redemption for. The movie never holds him accountable for any of his bad behavior, and neither does the world of the film – he legit just gets fired and that’s it for chucking a man from a second-story window! No criminal charges!?

The performance:

It may just be my hatred for the role, but I thought this performance fucking sucked, sorry Sam Rockwell. (Note that this is in contrast to all of my other opinions, which are completely accurate and unbiased). Basically, he had one speed throughout, drunk, and he didn’t even do drunk all that well? I mean, it was certainly clear that he was drunk, but it was SO over-the-top, which I guess is this whole movie’s thing, and very much not my thing. I never wanted to see him on my screen (and yet, there he appeared, so many times), and couldn’t be bothered to muster up any empathy for him. Again, it’s primarily that this character was draining and uninteresting, but this performance only contributed to my dislike.

The movie:

I will use this space to reiterate how fucking racist this movie was. Basically, it used racism as a character trait without ever considering the actual impacts of racism on, ya know, Black people. Speaking of, we get to see maybe three minutes of Black side characters on screen? They certainly don’t get to weigh in on how they feel about the racist ass cops of Ebbing. The cops arrest Mildred’s Black friend for having a couple joints, just to mess with Mildred, and there’s absolutely no acknowledgement of the fact that Black folks are disproportionately arrested and prosecuted for marijuana violations. I just can’t believe that I watched a two hour movie about police violence that focused so much on how the police feel about it. Don’t even get me started on the sexism and the homophobia and whatever you call it when you make fun of little people.

Was the Oscar deserved?

No, this movie deserves nothing!! Nothing!!