The trouble with watching the Sundance Channel is that you can get horribly depressed. So many of the films are dark, forbidding noir that the channel comes with free coupons for Pfizer products. However, I caught Scotland, PA, and I gotta tell ya, I LOVED this flick.
The director asked himself, "What would MacBeth be like if it was set in a fast-food restaurant?" No, really. On paper it sounds like an insane idea, and I tuned in mostly out of curiosity. I was quickly delighted by this turn of fancy, which turns one of the uglier Shakespeare plays into an offbeat comedy. James LeGros plays Joe "Mac" McBeth, a downtrodden assistant manager of a hamburger joint, who can't get ahead because of the owner's vapid sons. His long-suffering wife, played by the wonderful Maura Tierney (E.R.), presses him to plot to get ahead and then rob the owner, Mr. Duncan (get out your Cliff Notes, kids). They wind up killing him by knocking him face-first into the frier, and Mrs. McBeth winds up getting a significant burn on her hand. And so the intrigue begins. Malcolm, the lead idiot son of Duncan, practically gives the stand to the McBeths, and they are a rousing success, living high off the hog (or the cow, in this case) until Christopher Walken appears as Detective McDuff, a vegetarian cop investigating the death of Duncan. Walken does an hysterically funny parody of himself, as if he's the only character in the movie who's in Twin Peaks. The prophetic witches get a makeover that is both weird, funny and strangely appropriate. I won't tell you any more, but trust me, for once I'm being serious when I say that you should tune in Sundance for this movie, or ask your video rental store to get it. The direction, acting, locations and deadly earnest commitment to the lunacy make it an entertaining movie for anyone to watch. Those who know the play will be rolling on the floor. And as much as I like Tom Stoppard and love Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, this movie is far more accessible. I hope we see more work like this from Billy Morrissette, the director.
