... suffice it to say, I do think McDonagh is more self-aware than you give him credit for, and his what I'll call "heightened reality" (what the film's detractors would call "caricatures" and "terrible dialogue") is an intentional choice, without question. No one's ever accused McDonagh's of being un-theatrical or of being overly subtle. It's just a matter of whether that theatricality/presentational style detracts from your experience with the story/world/characters or not-- hence why the film has passion from both its defenders and its critics. (It's unsurprising to me that Colin Farrell enjoys working with McDonagh and Yorgos Lanthimos so much-- both have strong style to their voices and both are as a result frequently accused of writing shitty dialogue/thinking unfunny things are funny/making bad movies for the same movies that other people rave over.) And I'll take the odd line of dialogue that goes for something piercing and fails in exchange for all of the dialogue that does work for me.

I totally get the complaints. I don't not understand them. Those elements just didn't negatively impact my enjoyment of the film whatsoever. Maybe because I'm a McDonagh fanatic. The style works, the wit works, the anger works, the characters who don't deserve our sympathy or forgiveness work, the mess works. The messiness of this movie is a big reason why I enjoy it so. Maybe I'll like it less upon revisit. (I kind of doubt it, though.)

Finally, as a guy familiar with many a red-county small town in Florida, while it may not have happened in the same way it happened there, yeah, I don't doubt that people would try ways of shutting up a woman who's trying to excoriate a well-liked police chief, even if common sense would dictate those methods may risk getting into trouble themselves. It's certainly a heightened, more exposed attack than maybe a normal one would be-- but fuck, small town shit is outside of reality anyway, so if someone pointed me to a CNN story about a dentist doing exactly what this one tries to do, I'd be less than surprised (I also think the scene where Mildred is threatened in the gift shop is a good reminder that she will always live with this fear, and the number one tactic to try to stop people from speaking out is fear. I don't mind if it doesn't have a clear narrative solution, personally).