THE LAST SUPPER
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 6.0 Alternative Scale: **1/2 out of ****
United States, 1995 U.S. Release Date: 4/5/96 (limited) Running Length: 1:33 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Courtney B. Vance, Annabeth Gish, Jonathan Penner, Ron Eldard, Nora Dunn, Ron Perlman Director: Stacy Title Producers: Matt Cooper and Larry Deinberg Screenplay: Dan Rosen Cinematography: Paul Cameron Music: Mark Mothersbaugh U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Despite receiving a U.S. release on Good Friday, THE LAST SUPPER has nothing to do with religion. Instead, it's a black comedy/satire that ruthlessly skewers political extremism by suggesting that the farther to the left or right you travel on the political spectrum, the closer you move to the same destination. Call it "circular politics". According to Dan Rosen's script, it's possible for the most die-hard liberals to be as reactionary as their conservative counterparts.
While there's nothing new about this philosophy, THE LAST SUPPER approaches it from a fresh, decidedly unconventional perspective. For the first thirty minutes, this picture takes a solid premise and runs with it. Unfortunately, the momentum eventually flags, and THE LAST SUPPER meanders through an unnecessarily-protracted middle segment. Things don't snap back into focus until the final scenes.
First time feature director Stacy Title (who helmed the 1993, Oscar-nominated short, "Down on the Waterfront") doesn't play favorites in the lampooning game -- liberals, conservatives, and moderates all get theirs. THE LAST SUPPER also consciously attacks political correctness by depicting the somewhat-absurd lengths to which this predominant social philosophy can be taken. The underlying message is that we should be more concerned with people and individual freedoms than with a specific ideology.
THE LAST SUPPER introduces us to five graduate student housemates - - Jude (Cameron Diaz), Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Luke (Courtney B. Vance), Marc (Jonathan Penner), and Pete (Ron Eldard). Every-so-often, these friends invite a guest to dinner for a discussion about life and politics. However, on one rainy evening when their invitee is a potentially-violent neo-Nazi named Zack (Bill Paxton), none of them is prepared for what transpires. Zack doesn't appreciate their ideals. In fact, he displays contempt for everything they stand for, and, to prove a point about the inherent weakness of liberals, he holds a blade to Marc's throat then breaks Pete's arm. Concerned that they're all going to be killed, Marc plunges a nasty-looking knife into Zack's back. Suddenly, the five housemates have a corpse on their hands. They decide to bury Zack in the back yard and pretend that the incident never happened.
But that's not the end of it. They realize that perhaps they have done humanity a favor by ridding it of such a misfit. After debating the benefits of killing someone to make the world a better place, they formulate a plan to help rid society of certain "undesirable" elements. Then, having laced a bottle of wine with arsenic, they invite a different conservative type to dinner each day, and, if a guest displays views that are deemed too ignorant or hateful, they're offered a drink of the toxic liquid. Racists, homophobes, misogynists, and anti- abortionists come in through the front door, then end up in the back garden.
One of the major problems with THE LAST SUPPER is that, following an auspicious setup, it stagnates. After the first few murders, things get repetitious, and the script doesn't have anything new to offer until the end, when a Rush Limbaugh-like TV personality (Ron Perlman) enters the mix. In the meantime, there's a pointless subplot about a local sheriff (Nora Dunn) searching for a missing young girl. Although this eventually dovetails with the main story, the connection is too tenuous to be worth all the screen time spent on it.
Occasionally, THE LAST SUPPER tries to be serious, but drama is by far the film's weakest element. There are also attempt to develop character arcs for some of the one-dimensional protagonists, but these don't work, either. Often-bizarre personality changes happen too abruptly to be credible.
None of the primary actors does an especially good job. Cameron Diaz (the curvaceous beauty from THE MASK), has a few worthwhile scenes, as do Annabeth Gish (BEAUTIFUL GIRLS) and Courtney B. Vance (PANTHER). Jonathan Penner (DOWN PERISCOPE), on the other hand, gives an amateurish performance, and Ron Eldard (TV's ER) frequently blends in with the furniture. The best turn is given by Ron Perlman in limited duty as the conservative media-hog. Bill Paxton, Charles Durning, Mark Harmon, and Jason Alexander have cameos.
Too often in motion pictures, the ideas are much better than the execution. That's the case here. The concept of a group of liberal students eliminating their political opponents by murder ("they're not people; they're people who hate") is ripe with promise. But THE LAST SUPPER doesn't push the envelope far enough. The edge could be better honed. And, in the end, that makes pickings a little slim at this particular meal.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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