Five liberal friends - sweet Jude (Cameron Diaz), sarcastic Luke (Courtney B. Vance), naive Pete (Ron Eldard), painter Marc (Jonathan Penner) and his girlfriend Paulie (Annabeth Gish) kill violent thug Zachary (Bill Paxton) and develop a plan based on the old "would you murder young Hitler?" moral dilemma ("The conservatives are effective. They do things. All we do is buy animal-friendly mascara").
The movie skewers fanaticism on both sides, mocking both the ignorance of a certain right and the arrogance of a certain left. Both the increasingly blood-thirsty friends and their hilariously stupid guests are mercilessly made fun of.
The best performances belong to Courtney B. Vance as Luke ("I say we bury the cracker and have dessert") and to Ron Perlman, chewing scenery as ultra-conservative Arbuthnot ("We took this country from Indians but what were they doing with it anyway?"). Diaz, Gish and Eldard are adequate; Penner, however, is amateurish. The actors playing the doomed guests (including Charles Durning and Jason Alexander) have fun with their small, cartoonish roles.
Decent black comedies are a rarity today, so hooray for this one.
7/10
The movie skewers fanaticism on both sides, mocking both the ignorance of a certain right and the arrogance of a certain left. Both the increasingly blood-thirsty friends and their hilariously stupid guests are mercilessly made fun of.
The best performances belong to Courtney B. Vance as Luke ("I say we bury the cracker and have dessert") and to Ron Perlman, chewing scenery as ultra-conservative Arbuthnot ("We took this country from Indians but what were they doing with it anyway?"). Diaz, Gish and Eldard are adequate; Penner, however, is amateurish. The actors playing the doomed guests (including Charles Durning and Jason Alexander) have fun with their small, cartoonish roles.
Decent black comedies are a rarity today, so hooray for this one.
7/10