The Last Supper (1996)

Jude (Cameron Diaz), Pete (Ron Eldard), Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Marc (Jonathan Penner) and Luke (Courtney B. Vance) are liberal grad-students having a dinner in Iowa. It's a yearly tradition that they invite someone to have an open discussion. It's a stormy night. Pete invites over Zachary Cody (Bill Paxton) whose car broke down. Soon, Zachary shows himself to be a racist, religious redneck. He's a Desert Storm vet and a Holocaust denier. The discussion turns heated with Zach holding a knife to Jewish Marc's throat. Pete tries to turn the table but Zach breaks his arm. Marc kills Zach by stabbing him in the back. The group argues. Luke convinces them to bury the body. Sheriff Alice Stanley (Nora Dunn) is investigating a missing woman. The group decides to kill more people being the judge, the jury and even the executioners.This group is too smart to not call the cops after killing Zach. At least, the two girls who had nothing to do with the killing would go to the cops. It would be a better story to not have the liberals stumble into the first killing. Let them be fully cold-blooded killers in a school project sort of way. The whole thing feels very manufactured. This is more of an exercise rather than something with real feelings and real characters. This is something made up around a warped dinner party.

I thought this was a good idea for a movie. Before seeing it, I had mixed feelings. From what I've seen, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be mediocre. Actually, it is that way as the movie progresses. And that's where the problem lies. Once it loses steam, it barely recovers. It gets off to an interesting start, as we watch Bill Paxton chatting with everyone. Then he gets really upset, accusing everyone of being politically incorrect. But after this guy is killed, and then buried, the movie isn't as interesting (I enjoyed the subplot about the sheriff's missing girl case. But what does this have to do with the main story?). As for some of the other dinner guests, you've got an ideal cast: Jason Alexander, Mark Harmon, Charles Durning. But the movie seems too proud of itself. When these characters are not at the dinner table, I wasn't buying any of it. So, a marginal recommendation.**1/2 out of ****

It's 1909 and you're alone with a young artist named Adolph. Do you kill him? A hypothetical question becomes real for a group of friends (Cameron Diaz, Ron Eldard, Annabeth Gish, Jonathan Penner, and Courtney B. Vance) that inadvertently have a gung ho ex-Marine (Bill Paxton) for dinner.They decide that the world could be a better place if they removed some of those who pollute it with their thoughts, words, and actions. Come on, you've probably thought of the idea too. Wouldn't America be a better place if someone had gotten rid of a few right-wing nut-jobs before they could do serious damage to the country? They choose one each Sunday - anti-gay (Charles Durning), anti-literacy (Pamela Gien), anti-environment (Jason Alexander), etc. - you guessed it, until they come up with what they consider the ultimate prize - a Rush Limbaugh type (Ron Perlman) that causes them to pause. Is he really bad, or just out for money and publicity? Is that a bad enough reason to kill him?The answer and ending were a perfect ending to a funny movie.

this movie was not intelligent or funny - just a strange sign on the times... it might have been thought-provoking for some, but i found it extreme, over the top, unnecessary, gratuitous (!), and, well, kinda gross. way, way too obvious - oh, "liberals" killing "conservatives" is hypocritical? no way.the scene in which the kids kill the priest was particularly upsetting. supposed to be a joke, yes, but the man was depicted with too much humanity for the humor to come across with any force whatsoever - it felt pathetic, instead.flat, boring, upsetting in all the wrong ways. only reason i'm not giving it a score of 1 is that it kept my attention - initially - long enough that i had to watch the whole damn thing.