Scotland, PA MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -3

Set in the 1970s, this darkly humorous update of William Shakespeares highland tragedy, Macbeth, pairs James LeGros, as Joe McBeth, with Maura Tierney playing Pat, his bloodthirsty wife. Passed over for promotion to manager at Duncans burger joint, the McBeths get greedy and rectify the situation by knocking off old man Duncan (James Rebhorn). After the murder comes off without a hitch, the couple buys the restaurant from Duncans teenage sons and transforms it into a moneymaking powerhouse. They invent the drive-thru window, add some big red arches, and start selling little chicken pieces with dipping sauce. But just as life seems to be on the upswing, police Lieutenant McDuff, played by Christopher Walken in a great comedic performance, begins poking his nose around, relentlessly trying to find the person who killed old Duncan. The film wryly pokes fun at 70s fads and contemporary pop culture. The story occasionally struggles to adapt Wills bloody play into dark comedy but, particularly with a limited release, SCOTLAND, PA wont draw many Shakespeare scholars or big crowds.

Shakespeares tragedies often take a prominent sin, carry it to an extreme, and watch the results as characters lives spin fatally out of control. In Shakespeares Macbeth, the Scot leader and his wife covet the power that comes with kingship, but in this film, the sin is pure greed. While the original play is certainly superior in its execution of the theme, SCOTLAND, PA effectively illustrates the downward spiral of people captivated by their greed. Although the movie presents as dark comedy, the scenes and characters become more serious toward the end, which aids in making the point of sins results. However, the updated dialogue contains over 50 obscenities and 10 strong profanities. The film also includes a stripper showing breast and rear nudity, as well as several off-color sexual comments. Gutter language and explicit sexual content are definite roadblocks for SCOTLAND, PA.

Preview Reviewer: John Adair
Distributor: Lot 47 Films, 26 W. 23rd St., 5th Fl., New York, NY 10010