The Last Supper (1995 film)

The Last Supper
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stacy Title
Written by	Dan Rosen
Produced by	Matt Cooper Larry Wienberg
Starring	Cameron Diaz Ron Eldard Annabeth Gish Jonathan Penner Courtney B. Vance Ron Perlman
Edited by	Luis Colina
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	April 5, 1995
Running time	92 min.
Language	English

The Last Supper is a 1995 film directed by Stacy Title. It stars Cameron Diaz, Ron Eldard, Annabeth Gish, Jonathan Penner and Courtney B. Vance as five liberal graduate school students who invite a string of right-wing extremists to dinner in order to murder them.

Synopsis

The film centers on five graduate school students in Iowa who live together in a rustic home: Jude (Cameron Diaz), Pete (Ron Eldard), Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Marc (Jonathan Penner), and Luke (Courtney B. Vance).

After Zack (Bill Paxton), a Desert Storm veteran, helps move Pete's car, the group invite hims to have dinner with them. However, Zack turns out to be a racist, praises Adolf Hitler and denies the historicity of the Holocaust, leading to a tense political debate with the liberal students. The evening takes a turn for the worse, when the veteran, possibly haunted by post traumatic stress disorder, snaps and threatens Marc with a knife. Zack breaks Pete's arm but is stabbed to death by Marc. The group decides to cover up the murder.

After a long discussion led by Luke, the students decide to follow up this event by inviting other right-wing extremists for dinner with a view to murder them, reasoning this would "make the world a better place". The students lay down a procedure for each murder. The guest will be given every opportunity to change their mind and recant their beliefs. If the guests fail to change their ways by dessert, the group offers them poisoned white wine from a blue decanter and raises a toast. The bodies are buried in the group's vegetable garden.

Guests include a homophobic reverend, a misogynistic chauvinist, a Neo-Nazi, an anti-environmentalist, a racist Muslim fundamentalism a Pro-life extremist, a censorship advocate, a hobo assailant (the only dinner guest who momentarily considers recanting his beliefs), and opponents of gay rights, all of whom are murdered. After ten murders, misgivings begin to surface within the group as a couple of them grow indecisive regarding the justification of their actions. Infighting and guilt compel Jude, Pete, Marc, and Paulie, in an almost unanimous decision with only the dissent of Luke, to spare a teenage opponent of mandatory sex education.

A local sheriff (Nora Dunn), who investigates the whereabouts of a missing girl named Jenny Tyler (Elisabeth Moss) comes upon the group. By coincidence, the main suspect in the case is Zack, the first victim, who was also a convicted sex offender. The policewoman grows suspicious of the students’ behavior and interrogates Pete, Marc and Paulie at their home. Finding the sheriff prying around the back yard after one of the murders, Luke also kills the sheriff unbeknownst to the rest of the group.

During a school break, Luke and Pete meet famous conservative pundit Norman Arbuthnot, played by Ron Perlman, and invite him to dinner. (Throughout the movie, brief segments of radical statements made by Arbuthnot had been appearing on the TV that the group had been watching in their home.) During the dinner, Norman stymies the group with his moderate and persuasive arguments, all of which the usually argumentative group have difficulty debunking. He even admits that he says more radically conservative things mostly for attention.

The frustrated students all suspiciously excuse themselves to the kitchen to determine Norman's fate. Jude warns him not to drink the wine in the blue bottle by saying, "It was left out too long and has gone bad." After a brief discussion, only Luke still wishes to kill Norman, calling him Hitler. After a tense altercation, where he aims a gun at Jude, Luke is dissuaded and breaks down into tears. Meanwhile, Norman examines the group's home and pieces together their murderous activities. When the students return to the table. Arbuthnot presents the group with glasses of wine and offers them a toast but does not drink himself, with the excuse that he doesn't want to be too intoxicated to fly his private plane. He puffs on a huge cigar and says, "Don't worry, I didn't pour any of the bad wine."

A closing shot of a painting portrays all five students collapsed on the floor, with Norman standing next to the blue bottle and smoking his cigar. The film ends with audio of Norman speculating about his possible presidential bid to a cheering crowd, pledging to do the people's will and describing himself the people's "humble, humble, servant".

Principal cast

Actor	Role
Cameron Diaz	Jude
Ron Eldard	Pete
Annabeth Gish	Paulie
Jonathan Penner	Marc
Courtney B. Vance	Luke
Bill Paxton	Zachary Cody
Nora Dunn	Sheriff Alice Stanley
Ron Perlman	Norman Arbuthnot

Among actors playing victims are Bill Paxton, Charles Durning, Mark Harmon and Jason Alexander.

Development and production

The character of Norman Arbuthnot was loosely based on real-life pundit Rush Limbaugh. Beau Bridges was originally asked to play the role but he turned the role down. One of the producers has a cameo as the man getting his book signed by Ar but h not.

The screenplay's author, Dan Rose, also had a small role as Deputy Hartford.

Director Stacy Title is married to the actor playing Marc, Jonathan Penner; she is also the sister of Jason Alexander's wife Dena E. Title.

Immediately after shooting was completed, the house that was used in the movie burned to the ground.

Shonen Knife's cover of The Carpenters' "Top of the World" plays during the closing credits.

Response

Critical response

The film has garnered a 65% rating on the Tomatometer scale. Here are some sample reviews, both positive and negative:

"This low-budgeter that "came out of nowhere" is a fresh, pungent tale about Right and Left—and Right and Left—in contempo American politics, well-acted by a gifted ensemble, including the young Cameron Diaz."

- Emanuel Levy

"All the courses are here and so are the nutrients, but The Last Supper, nevertheless, is a less-than-satisfying meal. The problem is not that things don't gel or aren't tasty; the problem resides more with its failure to froth."

- Marjorie Baumgarten

Box office

As a small film, it did not do well at the box office, garnering a mere $459,749 total domestic gross. However, in the years since, it has developed a cult following.

External links

• The Last Supper at IMDb
• The Last Supper at AllMovie