Scotland, Pa. (2001)

Why Do People Think Shakespeare Is Boring?
As director Billy Morrissette points out in a preview accompanying the movie, SCOTLAND, PA is Macbeth but for high school students who struggle with Shakespeare, who are stoned, or both.
Shakespeare's tale of the Scottish warrior turned king is moved from medieval Scotland to 1970s America. Norm Duncan (James Reborn) owns a popular local diner named Duncan's. He's a respective businessman in the small town of Scotland, PA and his hardest-working employee is Joe "Mac" McBeth (James LeGros). Mac's best friend, Anthony "Banko" Banconi (Kevin Corrigan) gives Mac some inside information about some embezzling that the manager, Douglas McKenna (Josh Pais), is involved in. Mac and his wife, Pat (Maura Tierney), Doug in the act, inform Duncan, and watch as he's fired and thrown out of the restaurant. Mac thinks it's his big break, but Duncan only promotes him to Assistant Manager. Tired of being an "underachiever trying to make up for lost time", Pat convinces Mac to take drastic action. She wants Mac to kill Duncan, but he can't bring himself to kill the man. But gravity takes over and Mac doesn't have to. Thus begins a rise to power for the McBeths who watch over as the business blossoms. Duncans becomes McBeth's, a fast food restaurant complete with the first drive-thru window in town and a French fry truck that drives around town delivering free French fries. But something's rotten in the town of Scotland and a big shot police detective named McDuff (Christopher Walken) is assigned to investigate Duncan's murder. As McDuff unravels what has happened, the McBeth's struggle to hold on to the happy life they have now acquired, no matter what the cost.

The movie does an excellent job at updating the story of Macbeth for modern audiences. The film does skip some of the psychological buildup of Act IV of the play and the ending seems a bit rushed (that's partially because of finances and time issues with the filmmakers). Nevertheless, the heart of the story remains intact. Also, unlike the play (which except for witches farting and the Porter, has very little comic relief) the movie is very funny. It's a dark tragic-comedy. I was an English major and I teach English and I love the movie. However, I know that there are some diehard Shakespeare buffs who are upset that the film cuts so much out from the original play. I don't have an issue with it because the movie stays true to the spirit of the original play.

Overall, a highly entertaining and imaginative update of Macbeth that any Shakespeare fan or movie buff should see at least once. Also recommended for reluctant high school students and stoners.

Walken is as good as ever
In his directorial debut, Billy Morrissette brings us the best adaption of William Shakespeare to date in the world of film: 'Scotland, PA.' Morrissette, also the writer of this movie, effectively adapts the classic tale of MacBeth into the blue collar world of a fast food restaurant in the 1970s. Joe McBeth (James LeGros) and Pat McBeth (Maura Tierney) are a pair of workers in a local fast food restaurant called Duncan's, but Joe has many ideas for innovations and the pair conspire to murder the owner of Duncan's when their advancement is stifled and ideas are used by the management. This action brings into effect the remainder of the movie detailing a cover up reminiscent of [[ASIN:6305417830 A Simple Plan]], but with the addition of absolutely brilliant comedic performances by the cast and writing on the part of the director. The murder itself, and the ensuing cover up, is investigated by the local police by Lieutenant Duff (Christopher Walken).

Chistopher Walken is absolutely brilliant in his role as Lt. McDuff, which either because of his style, or past performances, is only enhanced by the writing which Morrissette brings to the script and results in absolutely hysterical laughter from the audience. The soundtrack is perfectly fitting with both the modern and older elements brought into the film with an inspired mixture of classical works and classic rock songs from the seventies. Though 'Scotland, PA' is an exceptional movie, it could have been improved to remove the dragging feeling in several areas during the funeral scenes and introduction. Casting for the film could have been improved by the replacement of Maura Tierney as Pat McBeth as her performance degrades the overall quality of the picture. The adaptation of the three witches of [[ASIN:B0002TVWYW Macbeth / McKellen, Dench (Thames Shakespeare Collection)]] with the three hippies of the 1970s is just one example of the quality of the adaption made by Morrissette. Despite the difficulties within it, 'Scotland, PA' remains a cinematic marvel worthy of Shakespeare and, if this first film is any indication of what should be expected in the future, a work very likely to launch Billy Morrissette out of the obscure independent film world and into Hollywood as [[ASIN:B00000IQC8 Clerks (Collector's Series)]] did for Kevin Smith.

a winner
As an English major and English teacher, I am definitely not the audience this was intended for. In the commentary, the director says that it's all well and good if the typical Shakespeare lovers embrace the movie, but he's really making it for the pot smokers who've never even heard of Macbeth because they were too busy getting high to bother reading the play or even show up for class (loose paraphrase from what I remember when I watched this a year or two ago). But whether or not it was made for people like me, I loved it. Some of the low ratings have been attributed to the fact that it's just taking an old story and modernizing it. Sure, people who write stories from scratch deserve a ton of credit, but there is also a great deal of creativity involved in telling an extremely well known story in a totally fresh way. Scotland, PA succeeds there. There were also some complaints about the fact that they don't use the Shakespearean English in this adaptation. I personally enjoy watching new versions of Shakespeare's plays both ways--Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet speaks to me in a totally different way than West Side Story, but they both speak to me. I wish I could share this film with my students so they could see how "cool" Shakespeare can be. It would be a great example of the timelessness or the themes or the range of directors' interpretations. Alas, I doubt I'd ever get this one okayed by the administration...

And as a side note, I thought the music was awesome.