17 November 2002. This fun, little movie is a delight with insidious humor coupled along with a laid back scheme to take over a small fast food diner that involves heinous crimes. The movie seemed, like many black comedies, to drip with more serious blackness changing the lighter tones in the beginning to more somber hues towards the end, except the ending is light and breezy. Perhaps, its supposed to be some sort of moral tale and that such darkness must gain strength as the movie moves forward, except such breakout television series such as Buffy, Charmed, Angel belie the necessity of always having to modify consistency for some ulterior mood changes. Why can't movie just keep their charm throughout instead of becoming some associative personality disorder of film?
Scotland, Pa.
2001
Action / Comedy / Crime
Scotland, Pa.
2001
Action / Comedy / Crime
Plot summary
Joe McBeth is a hard-working but unambitious doofus who toils at a hamburger stand alongside his wife Pat, who has a significant edge in the brains department. Pat is convinced she could do a lot better with the place than their boss Norm Duncan is doing, so she works up a plan to usurp Norm, convincing Mac to rob the restaurant's safe and then murder Norm, using the robbery as a way of throwing the police off their trail. Though two stoners and a would-be fortune teller warn Mac that bad luck awaits him, he gathers his courage and goes through with his wife's scheme. At first, things seem to have gone just as Pat hoped, and after Norm's sons sell the restaurant to the McBeths (they pay for it with the money they stole from Norm),business takes off. But vegetarian police detective McDuff is convinced there's foul play at the new center of the fast food universe, and when the McBeths fear that fry cook Banco knows more than he's letting on, Mac takes charge in the plotting department and decides there may be more dead meat on the menu.
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A Black Comedy That Gets Blacker
Shakespeare would be proud--what a hilarious re-make, filled with comic nuance
Scotland, PA (2001)
What a terrific farce. And homage to the Shake. And campy fun movie.
Advice? Read a synopsis of MacBeth first—the play, the original Shakespeare drama that this movie is based on. There is no Elizabethan language in this thorough update of Lady MacBeth and crew, but the plot is kind of sort of the same. Only different in all the right ways.
And the acting is great. Playing Lady MacBeth (one of Shakespeare's greatest characters) as Pat McBeth, is Maura Tierney, and she's terrific—the disdain, sass, savvy, and brooding are all perfect pitch. And matching her as the detective now called Lieutenant McDuff is Christopher Walken in his usual dry, subtle mode. The rest of the cast is nearly as good (the one sorry exception is the James Le Gros as Mr. McBeth),and the compact scenes click along with peculiar twists and little odd background pranks all through. You have to watch closely.
The setting—the kingdom—is a drive-up restaurant, a burger joint, called Duncan's. Duncan (Tome Guiry) is the "king" and if you know MacBeth you know he is doomed. The fight for relevance in this little place is comic in itself, even if you don't know Shakespeare. In fact, you need to feel comfortable diving into this funny gem of a movie even if you don't know a thing about the original story. It stands on its own.
A terrific surprise.
Great film!
Lately, I've been forcing everyone I know to watch this film. It may not go down in history, but it is hilariously funny--especially if you don't take it too seriously! People need to chill out a bit about it, and not try to analyze it too deeply. It's a funny 1970's version of Macbeth with fabulous actors and actresses, and while much of its comedy comes from its similarites to the play, much of the comedy stands on its own. It's a great update, and I don't think it should be compared to films like "Shakespeare in Love" because the idea is completely different. It's not too violent of a black comedy, either, though moments like the killing of Duncan are outright hilarious. Take smaller moments, too, like when the children play with the body of Banco as it's being taken away. The acting is excellent--Tierney, Le Gros, Walkin...what else do I have to say? It's a fun film that I think you should see.