Boring

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I am not often swayed to rent and even less, write about those movies you see on the shelves of video rental places sporting those funny little logos that surround their covers. Usually these markings indicate that they are some kind of 'special' movie. From my own experience, that marking signifies the movie is a 'dog.' I have rented one or two of these in my 25 years of video watching. Often, I found myself wondering whether I was culturally deficient, and on the other hand, amazed at what some people in the business get away with under the guise of being amateurs.Anyway, on a recent evening when I could not find anything to satiate my video yen, I took the advice of the video store clerk, who knows of my esoteric interests. He suggested one of those 'bordered' movies. Rather than succumb to inevitable boredom, which for me is not having anything new to watch, I gave in to his hype and rented Scotland PA. Wouldn't you know It turns out to be one of the freshest, most hip movies I have screened recently. For what it is, a dark comedy (ala Macbeth) you will find this one right on the mark.Remember Christopher Walken? He is alive and well, at least in this movie. If you are a fan of his, you'll appreciate what he does to make it work. The first time I encountered him was way back in 1983. The name of the movie was BRAIN SCAN, also starring Natalie Wood and Cliff Robertson, that guy who did endless AT&T commercials in the late '70s & early 80's. He was around before that, in many short lived TV series. His most outstanding movies include, The Deer Hunter, Pulp Fiction, True Romance and Disney's The Country Bears. An enduring, diverse and very talented actor.In Scotland, PA. Chris plays an investigator probing in to the Fry-o-later murder of a local eatery owner played by James Le Gros. Crispy! The plot is intricate and does well with the ensemble cast that make this story set in the '70s, move swiftly. It demands most of your attention, because you might miss something if you turn your head. If you like the 70's music of 3 Dog Night, Bad Company, Janis Ian, First Class and others, the soundtrack is essential. The music audio in the movie sounds a little weird, it could have been cleaner. You will even see some footage of Mark Spitz unfold in this great piece of mystery/comedy. The direction and cinematography separate this from a B offering and may make you wonder why New Line or even Columbia did not pick up this Sundance goo-die.Scotland, PA. Is the kind of movie you watch alone, so you can laugh crazily and really enjoy yourself. You do not want to constantly be looking to see if anyone else is getting the humor. It goes too fast for that. There probably is not an actor or actress in the movie you have not seen somewhere else, and that makes it even better. Besides, it is a great one to have long, knowing conversations about when you meet someone else that has seen it. My favorites are the marijuana fairies that show up throughout the flick! Something for everybody, and today, that is an accomplishment. Thank you 'all knowing' video store clerk. I owe you one.

I have the DVD of this movie & I think the director, Morissette did an incredible job-- I am pretty sure this was his first movie. I love the soundtrack & think the casting was excellent. This film appeals to anyone that enjoys dark comedies..I recommend watching the movie w/ the director's comments included in the feature--- From that I realized that the director is Maura Tierney's husband... and she truly inspired the "Pat MacBeth" character's role in the story.. Scotland PA IS SUCH AN AWESOME MOVIE... i give this movie ten stars and do not think a single thing should have been done differently.. I could see this movie over & over without getting sick of it.

This is some of the most fun I've had watching a movie. I took it as a blind recommendation and it has become one of my favorite comedies in years.Using Shakespeare's Macbeth as his source, former actor Billy Morrissette makes (I believe) his feature film debut as an actor with this brilliantly dark (I know, I'm oxymoronic) comedy. Set in the depressed town of Scotland, Pennsylvania circa 1973, Morrissette turns Shakespeare's original story about a power hungry wife pushing her too contemplative husband into a bloody post-regicide reign into a tale of an over ambitious wife pushing her dullard husband into murder to take over a fast food joint. Morrissette had obvious fun playing with the characters names and using them to even propel the story. There is of course our anti-hero/heroine Joe "Mac" and his wife Pat - the McBeth's, both of whom work for Duncan, the owner of (what else) a donut shop. Through shrewd manipulation Pat pushes. There's also Lt. McDuff (Christopher Walken seemingly having more fun than he has in anything I can recall him in); Banquo - becomes Banco, and Shakespeare's witches/weird sisters become an unholy trio of drugged out hippies (deliciously played by Andy Dick, Amy Smart and Tim Levitch. Acting honors go all the way around but James LeGros and Maura Tierney get special mention as the unholy couple. LeGros captures the perfect 70's dullard, small time dreams, clueless and nearly almost ruining everything. He's a delight to watch. Ms. Tierney - an actress who singlehandedly kept me from ever watching E.R. nearly shocked the life out of me by actually proving to be an amazing actress. If for no other reason (but thank God there are plenty of 'em) the movie would be worth watching for Tierney's most delicious, crazed performance of the film. Her transparent subtlety is almost menacing and her greedy ambition is mouthwateringly contagious - you want her to get away with everything. I can't recommend this movie enough! Hilarious and disturbing Scotland, Pa. is a joy!

For hundreds of years, Shakespeare has inspired playwrights and others, and he himself based many of his plays on past works and stories. "Scotland, PA" is another, one of many in recent years, often done as teen flicks these days. This is totally logical given the power of the stories, the universality of the themes. Now, you might not have immediately thought the take over of a burger joint in the 1970s would be the most logical parallel to the regicide of Macbeth, but it's handled pretty well here.The movie is largely loyal to the original, so the co-story credit with William Shakespeare is quite appropriate. The main characters have names patterned after the originals, and the storyline goes basically the same. Maura Tierney (wife of the director) as Pat McBeth is great and seems to have a lot of fun cursing (she is usually in good girl roles). Christopher Walken (Lieutenant McDuff) has another self-parodying role that is a lot of fun. A couple other interesting tidbits ... "I'm not Lisa" is a song in the film (Maura Tierney played Lisa in "NewsRadio") and the streaker at the end of the film is no bit player ... he is a producer of this film and directed various movies and tv, including a movie Maura Tierney was in, and the homage to old time radio, "Remember WENN."Once the murders begin, the movie (as the director himself notes on the DVD commentary track) gets a bit more serious. It also somewhat loses its way... now, it still is enjoyable, and parts of it are quite imaginative and good on some level, but something is missing. It seems like the movie is just playing out the plot instead of it being fun on its own. Nonetheless, on the whole, it's an enjoyable movie. The DVD commentary is decent too, so check out the DVD.