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He's a gleefully sadistic cartoon character for 80% of the movie, then gets injured and becomes a somber detective seeking justice.
Not to mention the absurd moments leading up to his turn:
- Dixon just so happens to be the only cop in the station when it's firebombed - Dinklage, whose character exists mostly so others can call him a midget, and who just so happens to have a crush on McDormand, also just so happens to be the only human within earshot of the station as she's firebombing it - Police chief ignores Dinklage's obvious lying and the fact that McDormand IS WEARING A BACKPACK AND HAS A GRUDGE AGAINST THE POLICE - Dixon just so happens to be placed in the same hospital room as the guy he threw out a window - Said guy, for no rational reason, forgives Dixon - Dixon just so happens to be drinking in the booth adjacent to a guy loudly bragging about raping a girl - Black couple, whose characters exist for no other reason than to witness Dixon's assault, just so happen to be in the same bar at the same time
That's just lazy writing. And the movie is full of it. It reminds me a lot of "Crash" in that these characters don't resemble real humans; they're just broadly-drawn archetypes, forced into a ham-fisted converging storyline to express a painfully obvious thesis ("Racism is bad!" "People can be both bad AND good!"). And like "Crash," I'm pretty sure this movie will win a lot of unwarranted awards and generate a slew of "What were we thinking?" articles in a couple years.
While I'm ranting, some other stuff that annoyed me:
- The ex-husband's girlfriend, who is so over-the-top cartoonish and tonally different than everyone else in the scene, that it feels like she's pausing for a laugh track - The "hilarious" Big Bang Theory-level physical comedy of kicking two high school students in the crotch. Again, tonal whiplash. - The most uncomfortable, unconvincing line reading of the year - "That was a real nice fuck. You got a real nice cock, Mr. Willoughby.” (what human would say that?) - The one-dimensionality of the female characters. Girlfriend and office assistant are ditzy. Daughter is a bitch. Mom is old and racist. Wife is hot and loves husband. Black shop owner is...black.
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