Two good movies in one week – this is unusual, especially these days.
“Scotland, PA” is a retelling of Macbeth, set in a 1970s burger joint. Maura Tierney of “ER” and “NewsRadio” plays Pat McBeth, in a series of outrageous 70s outfits. Christopher Walken is much less creepy than usual and hilarious as exasperated vegetarian police Lt. Ernie McDuff. While the setup sounds way too high-concept to be entertaining, the cast (aided by spot-on production design and a cool soundtrack) pulls it off. And any movie that includes a Yahtzee-playing birthday party scene has got something going for it in my book.
I would so much rather see an ambitious movie that doesn’t quite hit on all cylinders than a perfectly-produced Hollywood concoction with all the edges filed off.