The Last Supper (1996)
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65% of critics liked it
(31 reviews) -
66% of users liked it
(7,794 ratings)
If you met Adolph Hitler when he was just a struggling cartoonist, wouldn't you have done the world a big favor by murdering him? That philosophical question provides the linchpin of this black comedy. Jude (Cameron Diaz), Pete (Ron Eldard), Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Marc (Jonathan Penner), and… More If you met Adolph Hitler when he was just a struggling cartoonist, wouldn't you have done the world a big favor by murdering him? That philosophical question provides the linchpin of this black comedy. Jude (Cameron Diaz), Pete (Ron Eldard), Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Marc (Jonathan Penner), and Luke (Courtney B. Vance) are five graduate students who are confirmed members of the political left, participate in small-scale activism, and share a house together. One night, Pete is stuck in the middle of nowhere, and Zack (Bill Paxton), a truck driver, gives him a lift home. The housemates are just about to sit down to dinner, so to show his gratitude, Pete asks Zack to join them. However, it soon becomes obvious that Zack doesn't share the group's political views, and when he states that he thinks Hitler had the right idea, the argument turns into a fight, with Zack brandishing a knife. The trucker is accidentally killed in the scuffle, and rather than report the death to the police, his body is buried in the backyard vegetable garden. However, the event prompts much discussion among the housemates -- if Zack was a hateful bigot, isn't the world better off without him? And wouldn't killing other ignorant hatemongers improve society all the more? Before long, the group is having a weekly dinner party in which they invite a special guest -- including an anti-environmental activist (Jason Alexander), a right-wing religious leader (Charles Durning), a sexist who doesn't believe there's such a thing as rape (Mark Harmon), and a teenager campaigning against sex education in schools (Erin Bryn) -- and serve them some wine, which happens to be laced with arsenic. While the group's attempt at community improvement does wonders for their tomato plants, the recent disappearances eventually attract the attention of the local sheriff (Nora Dunn). The Last Supper was the first feature for director Stacy Title, who won an Academy Award for her short subject Down on the Waterfront; screenwriter Dan Rosen appears in a supporting role as a police deputy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Stacy Title
- Written By
- Dan Rosen
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Apr 5, 1996 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Rita Kempley, Washington Post
This sour, repetitive fare fails to feed our hunger for either laughter or enlightenment. It's all empty calories and reactionary chic.
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Desson Thomson, Washington Post
As the body count gets higher, and the housemates begin to question their high-and-mighty purposes, the movie stumbles under its sophomoric moral weight.
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Emanuel Levy, Variety
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 ensmeble, including the young Cameron Diaz.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
It falls apart, but the cool cast and caustic script will leave most right-thinking people well satisfied.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
The Last Supper shows some darkly effective visual style, but it has none of the wit needed to save such a story from lumbering obviousness and sophomoric political debate.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Cameron Diaz
as Jude
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Ron Eldard
as Pete
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Annabeth Gish
as Paulie
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Jonathan Penner
as Marc
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Courtney B. Vance
as Luke
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Jason Alexander
as The Anti-Environmentalist
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Nora Dunn
as Sheriff Alice Stanley
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Charles Durning
as Rev. Gerald Hutchens
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Mark Harmon
as Todd Thatcher
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Amy Hill
as Illegal Alien Hater
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Bill Paxton
as Zack
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Ron Perlman
as Norman Arbuthnot
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Steve Welch
as Tow Truck Guy
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Bryn Erin
as Heather
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Matt Cooper
as Jerk in Coffee Shop
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Dan Rosen
as Deputy Hartford
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Larry Weinberg
as Businessman with White Socks
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Elisabeth Moss
as Jenny
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Nick Sadler
as Homeless Basher
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Rachel Chagall
as Abortion Activist
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Amber Taylor
as Girl in Coffee Shop
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Pamela Gien
as Illiterate Librarian
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Warren Hutcherson
as Nation Man
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Frederick Lawrence
as Skin Head
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Gil Segel
as Iowa Resident at Door
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Carly Webb
as Young Jude
