The Last Supper (film)
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| The Last Supper | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster for The Last Supper |
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| Directed by | Stacy Title |
| Produced by | Matt Cooper Larry Wienberg |
| Written by | Dan Rosen |
| Starring | Cameron Diaz Ron Eldard Annabeth Gish Jonathan Penner Courtney B. Vance |
| Music by | Mark Mothersbaugh |
| Editing by | Luis Colina |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Last Supper is a 1995 black comedy and satirical thriller. It is the second film to be directed by Stacy Title. It stars Cameron Diaz, Ron Eldard, Annabeth Gish, Jonathan Penner and Courtney B. Vance as five left-wing grad school liberals who share a house and discuss social issues over Sunday supper.
Tagline(s):
Eat... drink... and be buried...
Love... Sex... Life... Death. In this house it's all on the table.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
A group of liberal friends have a regular dinner date which they occasionally invite guests to. When a racist, child-molesting, murdering redneck and terrifying dinner guest (played by Bill Paxton) attempts to kill one of them they kill him in self defence. In the wake of these events they are inspired to improve the world through radical means -- by killing those who make the world a worse place to live. The friends invite a variety of people whose political and social agendas they find offensive, from a priest who considers AIDS to be a 'gay disease' to a radical pro-lifer. If they decide the person is too extremist to live, they poison him. As the movie progresses the friends' standards of egregious political beliefs get progressively lower and they take more enjoyment in the murders themselves. Tensions build in the group as guilt and power trips abound, colliding with a search for a missing girl and a much-maligned Rush Limbaugh-style talk show host, played by Ron Perlman.
[edit] Principal cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Cameron Diaz | Jude |
| Ron Eldard | Pete |
| Annabeth Gish | Paulie |
| Jonathan Penner | Marc |
| Courtney B. Vance | Luke |
| Bill Paxton | Zachary Cody |
| Nora Dunn | Sherriff Alice Stanley |
| Ron Perlman | Norman Arbuthnot |
[edit] Trivia
- Immediately after shooting was completed, the house that was used in the movie burned to the ground.
- One of the producers has a cameo as the man getting his book signed by Ron Perlman.
- Beau Bridges was originally asked to play Norman Arbuthnot, but he turned the role down.
- The film was shown at the 1995 Toronto Film Festival.
[edit] Goofs and nitpicks
- Continuity: Marc pours wine from the blue bottle, then caps it. Subsequently it is seen both capped and uncapped.
- Continuity: During dinner with the Reverend, dishes move around the table between shots.
- Continuity: During the last supper, the green bottle gets emptied by the "left wingers" then when they are shown from different camera angles it's full again, then empty, then full, then empty again.
[edit] Critical reaction
When it premiered, the film received a lukewarm critical response. It has garnered a 65% rating on the Tomatometer scale. Here are some sample reviews, both positive and negative:
"This low-budgeter that "came out of nowhere" is a fresh, pungent tale about Right and Left--and Right and Left--in contempo American politics, well-acted by a gifted ensmeble, including the young Cameron Diaz."
- Emanuel Levy
"All the courses are here and so are the nutrients, but The Last Supper, nevertheless, is a less-than-satisfying meal. The problem is not that things don't gel or aren't tasty; the problem resides more with its failure to froth."
- Marjorie Baumgarten
[edit] Box office
The film did not do well at the box office, garnering a mere $459,749 total domestic gross.
