Scotland, PA.

Think of Scotland, PA. as truck-stop Shakespeare, Macbeth given a drive-through makeover as the deadliest of deadpan comedies. Writer-director Billy Morrissette got this wacky idea from an early job at Dairy Queen. He makes the most of that bad memory by casting his own wife (ER's Maura Tierney) and indie stalwart James LeGros as Pat and Mac McBeth, a married pair of Pennsylvanian schemers, circa 1973, who plot to escape their thankless jobs at Duncan's burger joint. They dispatch Duncan in a sizzling accident (you want fries with that corpse?) and inherit the diner from Duncan's stoner son (who's also a suspect), hoping to prove to Detective McDuff (Christopher Walken, at his funniest) that their newfound happiness is entirely legal. Like The Big Lebowski, this movie's hilarious if you're in on the joke, and familiarity with Shakespeare is optional when you've got a "rock block" of Bad Company hits to keep the grisly comedy on track. --Jeff Shannon

Movie Details

Cast: James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn, Tom Guiry, Amy Smart, Timothy 'Speed' Levitch, Andy Dick, Geoff Dunsworth, Josh Pais, Reed Rudy, John Cariani, David Wike, Nicola Lipman
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 104 min
DVD Aspect Ratios: 1.85:1