The Last Supper

[1996, Movie]

The Last Supper: Review

Exterminating twits: Ron Eldard, Cameron Diaz and Courtney B. Vance

A liberal revenge fantasy that seems designed to consolidate liberalism's bad name. A bunch of pampered, self-important grad students are dismayed by the viciously conservative zeitgeist, so they decide to do something about it. They hold dinner parties for a highly symbolic succession of guests -- a smooth misogynist, a homophobic priest, a conservative high school student, a book burner, an environmentally incorrect businessman... you get the idea -- and finish them off after dessert. A black comedy that isn't half as clever (or shocking, or transgressive, or surprising) as it thinks it is, this obvious little moral tale nevertheless boasts gorgeous art direction and cinematography. If only the stars (including Cameron Diaz, Annabeth Gish and Courtney B. Vance) weren't so smugly earnest and the dialogue so solemnly puerile. Long before the last celebrity cameo is over (the awful guests include Jason Alexander, Mark Harmon, Bill Paxton, Charles Durning and Ron Perlman), you'll be praying for the conspirators to get their inevitable comeuppance.