Scotland, PA
1/4
Starring: James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Tom Guiry, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn
Rated R for Language, Some Nudity, Drug Content and Brief Violence
My dad is a huge fan of William Shakespeare. Every time I tell him about stories or movies, he compliments Shakespeare and how he knew everything about storytelling. He watched Kenneth Branagh's legendary adaptation of "Hamlet" with me, and we also watched the truly warped version of "Titus" starring Anthony Hopkins. I considered waiting until he had some free time so we could watch "Scotland, PA," a humorous adaptation of Shakespeare's infamous tragedy "Macbeth," but I didn't. In all honesty, I think my dad would thank me for sparing him the pain of watching what Billy Morrisette did to his hero's work.
Yeah, you read the above right. Writer/director Billy Morrisette has turned "Macbeth" into a comedy. Let me rephrase: writer/director Billy Morrisette has tried to turn "Macbeth" into a comedy. I make the distinction because the attempt is a complete and utter failure. The idea has promise (this would be a great job for The Coen Brothers). The execution does not.
The film fails all three of the prerequisites for making a good comedy: it's not funny, it's not interesting, and it's not well-paced. The jokes are largely absent (not only are they not particularly funny, they're not there), the characters are boring, and the film crawls.
For reasons only known to Morrissette, he has decided to set the film in the 1970's. I have no idea why he did this because it serves no purpose other than to have the characters decked out in goofy costumes and hairdos. Maybe it was to avoid having to deal with actual police procedure, although that stuff can slide if the movie is interesting (especially in a comedy).
In any event, Joe "Mac" Macbeth (LeGros) and his wife Pat (Tierney) are workers at a crappy fast food restaurant called Duncan's. It's run by a total idiot named, you guessed it, Duncan (Rebhorn). After they squeal to him about their annoying manager stealing from the store, he promotes Pat. Then he tells him his new idea about a drive-thru, and Pat thinks it's a good idea to rob and kill him and take over the restaurant. Once the deed is done, they're living the high life (relatively speaking). Of course, things descend for both of them once people start sniffing around. Mac becomes paranoid, Pat tries incessantly to remove a burn from her hand that she got doing the deed, and more people end up six feet under.
Morrissette has assembled a cast of talented character actors, but none of them are compelling (except for maybe Walken). LeGros is boring, Tierney tries (and fails) to make Pat interesting, and everyone else is a non-entity. Christopher Walken injects a little energy into his scenes, but there's only so much that he can do.
I'll give Morrissette credit for his guts. But that only goes so far when the result is this atrocious. I think that, in reference to Hamlet's famous quote, Will Shakespeare would choose not to be when it comes to being associated with "Scotland, PA."
Starring: James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Tom Guiry, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn
Rated R for Language, Some Nudity, Drug Content and Brief Violence
My dad is a huge fan of William Shakespeare. Every time I tell him about stories or movies, he compliments Shakespeare and how he knew everything about storytelling. He watched Kenneth Branagh's legendary adaptation of "Hamlet" with me, and we also watched the truly warped version of "Titus" starring Anthony Hopkins. I considered waiting until he had some free time so we could watch "Scotland, PA," a humorous adaptation of Shakespeare's infamous tragedy "Macbeth," but I didn't. In all honesty, I think my dad would thank me for sparing him the pain of watching what Billy Morrisette did to his hero's work.
Yeah, you read the above right. Writer/director Billy Morrisette has turned "Macbeth" into a comedy. Let me rephrase: writer/director Billy Morrisette has tried to turn "Macbeth" into a comedy. I make the distinction because the attempt is a complete and utter failure. The idea has promise (this would be a great job for The Coen Brothers). The execution does not.
The film fails all three of the prerequisites for making a good comedy: it's not funny, it's not interesting, and it's not well-paced. The jokes are largely absent (not only are they not particularly funny, they're not there), the characters are boring, and the film crawls.
For reasons only known to Morrissette, he has decided to set the film in the 1970's. I have no idea why he did this because it serves no purpose other than to have the characters decked out in goofy costumes and hairdos. Maybe it was to avoid having to deal with actual police procedure, although that stuff can slide if the movie is interesting (especially in a comedy).
In any event, Joe "Mac" Macbeth (LeGros) and his wife Pat (Tierney) are workers at a crappy fast food restaurant called Duncan's. It's run by a total idiot named, you guessed it, Duncan (Rebhorn). After they squeal to him about their annoying manager stealing from the store, he promotes Pat. Then he tells him his new idea about a drive-thru, and Pat thinks it's a good idea to rob and kill him and take over the restaurant. Once the deed is done, they're living the high life (relatively speaking). Of course, things descend for both of them once people start sniffing around. Mac becomes paranoid, Pat tries incessantly to remove a burn from her hand that she got doing the deed, and more people end up six feet under.
Morrissette has assembled a cast of talented character actors, but none of them are compelling (except for maybe Walken). LeGros is boring, Tierney tries (and fails) to make Pat interesting, and everyone else is a non-entity. Christopher Walken injects a little energy into his scenes, but there's only so much that he can do.
I'll give Morrissette credit for his guts. But that only goes so far when the result is this atrocious. I think that, in reference to Hamlet's famous quote, Will Shakespeare would choose not to be when it comes to being associated with "Scotland, PA."
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