Scotland, PA

Some folks came over last night (Benji and gyzki), and we watched Scotland, PA. It's basically the story of Macbeth, only set in a fast food joint in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1970's. Norm Duncan, former donut mogul, now operates a burger restaurant. His fry chef, Joe "Mac" McBeth, has ambitious ideas for how to expand the franchise, and is egged on in these ambitins by his wife Patsy (who works the counter). After a strange encounter with three stoners in an amusement park, Mac has a brilliant idea for a new invention: the Drive-Thru. Unwilling to see Duncan earn all the rewards of Mac's brilliance, while Mac is merely rewarded with a promotion to *Assistant* Manager, Patsy talks Mac into killing Duncan and taking over the restaurant. As the "McBeth's" chain prospers, however, Lieutenant MacDuff (Christopher Walken) starts asking inconvenient questions while investigating Duncan's murder...

It's a surprisingly faithful adaptation, given the bizarre choice of setting. In tone, it reminds me of a Coen Brothers movie: quirky characters, a dollop of surrealism, and an incredibly poorly-planned crime. Although if it actually had been a Coen Bros film, the cop would have been played by John Goodman, not Christopher Walken :-) Thumbs-up for fans of the Coen Brothers or of unconventional Shakespeare.

Scotland, PA

Some folks came over last night (Benji and gyzki), and we watched Scotland, PA. It's basically the story of Macbeth, only set in a fast food joint in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1970's. Norm Duncan, former donut mogul, now operates a burger restaurant. His fry chef, Joe "Mac" McBeth, has ambitious ideas for how to expand the franchise, and is egged on in these ambitins by his wife Patsy (who works the counter). After a strange encounter with three stoners in an amusement park, Mac has a brilliant idea for a new invention: the Drive-Thru. Unwilling to see Duncan earn all the rewards of Mac's brilliance, while Mac is merely rewarded with a promotion to *Assistant* Manager, Patsy talks Mac into killing Duncan and taking over the restaurant. As the "McBeth's" chain prospers, however, Lieutenant MacDuff (Christopher Walken) starts asking inconvenient questions while investigating Duncan's murder...

It's a surprisingly faithful adaptation, given the bizarre choice of setting. In tone, it reminds me of a Coen Brothers movie: quirky characters, a dollop of surrealism, and an incredibly poorly-planned crime. Although if it actually had been a Coen Bros film, the cop would have been played by John Goodman, not Christopher Walken :-) Thumbs-up for fans of the Coen Brothers or of unconventional Shakespeare.