THE LAST SUPPER
(1995)
Notes: Sony Pictures. 93 minutes.
Jude: Cameron Diaz
Paulie: Annabeth Gish
Luke: Courtney B. Vance
Mark: Jonathan Penner
Pete: Ron Eldard
Zack: Bill Paxton
Director: Stacy Title
Producers: Matt Cooper and Larry Dienberg
Screenplay: Dan Rosen
Cinematography: Paul Cameron
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Summary: Five graduate students in the 1990s share a house.Every Sunday they invite someone over for dinner and discussion.Pete has car problems and eventually gets a ride home from a seeminglykind truck driver named Zack. Unfortunately, Zack turns out tobe a knife-wielding racist maniac. Shortly into the meal he putsa knife to Marc’s throat, and then breaks Pete’s arm after heis provoked by Pete’s stupid antics. Finally Marc stabs this guyin the back. After a group discussion everyone decides that thebest course of action is to bury the man in the backyard and forgetthe whole incident happened. However, the students have a hardtime forgetting about the incident. Instead, they think aboutwhat would the world be like if they killed right-wing extremists.They decide to invite over right-wing extremists, treat them toa wonderful dinner, and try to change their political views; ifthey do not change their minds, they become tomato fertilizer.Shortly thereafter they invite over a reverend whose views aremost definitely not politically correct. So they poison his wine.They continue their little campaign to clear the world of extremistsand eventually start offering their guests poorer meals and giveup on trying to change their opinions. They become so extremethemselves that if you are not a J.D. Salinger fan you wind upon their hit list. Eventually they invite a guest for dinner whois sharper than they are and end up paying in full for their actions.
Commentary: The greatest moments in this movie all occurat the dinner table. In the beginning the meals they “treat”their guests to are very elaborate, but realistic. Later as thefive students become less concerned with their guests’ final mealsthey stoop so low as to serve hamburgers. Seldom does the actionleave the dinner table. Unlike My Dinner with Andréthe food at the dinner table is shown throughout the film Thecamera angles almost always allow the viewer to see the dishesthat are their guests’ final meals. The fact that they are poisoningtheir dinner guests will help to tame any appetite generated bythe dishes shown. It is also funny to note how the quality ofthe food declines with each guest, and that sometimes they servemeals that are outright cruel. While very little is shown of foodpreparation this is definitely a food film.