michael m (jettbrowne924) Unfortunately, the few other reviewers were expecting Caddyshack or something. This is a Black Comedy, and it is very good. The scenes are quick and engaging. The actors are well suited for their characters. The Duncan brothers could have their own sequel. Christopher Walken is very sly and humorous, shaking his castanetta's while trying to solve a murder. If it was not made aware to you, this is a 1980's version of Macbeth, with Maura Tierney and James LeGros playing the scheming murderous couple, the McBeths. A hamburger restaurant is at the center of the action, with the McBeths being willed the restaurant from their former boss, Mr. Duncan. The cinematography very much captures Pa., as well as the sets. Two final comments. The soundtrack was one of the best I have heard in years. Bad Company songs make up about half of it, with sprinklings of other ditties included as well. The second and most important is that Maura Tierney steals this film. Every scene she is in, you are transfixed to her. Her actions, her (in some cases) vulgarity and her great acting makes this her showcase. The scene with her and the pharmacist at the end is hysterical as she attempts to remove a burn from her hand which has long since healed. Bravo Maura and Bravo to this little movie that SHOULD have been a bigger success. Shakespeare adaptation not withstanding, you do not need to be familiar with the Bard to enjoy this film.

mfisher452 I had heard good things about this film but never seen it until I found it on DVD the other day. I don't recall ever hearing about this film being in the theaters and we don't get the Sundance Channel. To use a phase popularized in Esquire magazine in the Sixties, this was a good film but not a great film. Quirky, yes. Occasionally hilarious, yes. But overall, nowhere near the quirkiest or funniest quirky funny film we've seen. The opening expository scenes were so clumsily done that we couldn't tell what on earth was going on or who was who. We thought the funniest parts were Duncan's death by deep-fryer and the attempt to kill Lieutenant McDuff (a vegetarian) by asphyxiating him with a hamburger. It's been a long time since I saw or read the original Macbeth, but obviously much was left out of "Scotland, PA," which didn't surprise us and I didn't mind so much. The only part I missed, and which I think should SOMEHOW have been included, was the "untimely ripped" part about Macduff. Other reviewers have remarked on the prominence of Maura Tierney's role as Pat McBeth. Not surprising, as she is married to the director/screenwriter. James LeGros seems to be popular among fans of offbeat indie films, but we were unimpressed. One problem may have been his hair style: Correct as it may have been for the period, it hid so much of his face that his acting, if any, was obscured.I don't know whether the original film was poorly lit or whether the DVD was poorly mastered, but the image quality of this film was poor. I suspect it was the film, because the daylight scenes were good enough, but the night scenes were not well lit. Our biggest complaint was the sound track. It was poorly balanced, with muddy, often unintelligible dialogue forcing us to turn the sound way up alternating with blasts of Bad Company that forced us to turn the sound way down. We watched this film with our thumbs on the remote. And there were no subtitles or closed captions we could turn on to help figure out what the heck a character had just said!

EmperorNortonII Is this a burger that I see before me? "Scotland, Pa." is a movie with an interesting concept. It takes the Shakespearean play "Macbeth," and gives it a new setting, a fast-food hamburger stand in 1970's Pennsylvania. "Scotland, Pa." succeeds as a black comedy. One of its best quality is its use of music, especially the Bad Company "rock block." I'll bet a lot of Shakespeare aficionados will not think too well of this movie. But anyone else can enjoy it for its absurdity.

laura2001 Okay, so the idea sounds absurd. The film is absurd. It's also fantastic. The writing was extremely well done (although it was horrendously obvious that Morrisette had beefed up the Lady Macbeth part for Tierney), the dialogue was witty and never seemed out of place coming from the characters. And the soundtrack was just fantastic, and had me giggling with the sheer hilarity of having "Can't get enough of your love" playing as Macbeth heaves up his big ol' saucepan.But what really makes this film is the cast. Walken is his usual genius self, waltzing in and claiming his role as his own, playing the straight laced all seeing cop perfectly. LeGros is perfectly slouchy and dopey as McBeth, Banko is hilariously inept. But the one who really outshone the rest was Tierney. After playing the good girl for so long, she's really pulled out all the stops here. She delivers each curse like a true pro, does manipulation like she's being doing it her whole life, and yet still manages to gain sympathy from the audience. And you can really tell they all had an absolute blast making this movie, their joy really shines on through. It's a definite must-see!