Movie of the Day: February 27, 2003

IMDb Movie of the Day
Moving Macbeth from the misty moors and musty castles of ancient Scotland to small town Pennsylvania in the mid 1970's may seem like an odd choice, but it is possible. With Scotland, Pa, writer/director Billy Morrisette makes good on this idea, skillfully tailoring the nuances of the "the Scottish play" into the culture of the 1970's, making it seem like the most natural fit in the world. Pat (Maura Tierney) and Joe 'Mac' (James LeGros) McBeth are a young married couple flipping burgers at the local fast food restaurant, Duncan's. When the visions of some pot-smoking, fortune-teller hippies (Andy Dick, Amy Smart, Speed Levitch) coincide with some information from their loyal friend Banco (Kevin Corrigan), Pat and Mac's overriding ambition for a life less ordinary spurs them on to their fate, which involves supplanting an embezzling assistant manager and removing the obstacle of a complacent restaurant owner (in a very gruesome but fitting way) to take control of the restaurant. Dubbing the joint 'McBeth's' and adding an unheard of thing called a "drive-thru window", the couple becomes massively successful. However, their perfect plan begins to falter when vegetarian-but-fast-food-curious police detective Lieutenant McDuff (Christopher Walken) starts asking questions, gradually raising doubts in the minds of everyone, including the McBeths themselves. While the Shakespearean plot points of greed, ambition, and betrayal are as compelling as always here, it is Morrisette's attention to even the smallest details that delights, including an hilarious attempted murder by hamburger, and the depiction of the moving of Birnam Wood via the pattern of a stylish '70's pantsuit. (more)

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