User Reviews

This is a wicked black political satire of some left-wing intellectuals who decide to strike against right-wing "extremists". It has an excellent cast, especially with Courtney B Vance, Ron Perlman, and Cameron Diaz (who is a real surprise).

It also has a brilliantly witty script, like a 90s Oscar Wilde or George B Shaw with more sharper bite. I thought the setup and the climax were particularly effective, especially at handling complex political questions with an easy-to watch and a very engaging approach(which I have to say IMHO is rare for American movies). A totally professional production all round. This is the way smart independent films should be, and it's a shame not all of them are this clever or perceptive.

Obviously not meant for all tastes, but if you're fairly open-minded and like intelligent dark satire, this is a real treat.

Never let it be said that only the British can do political satire. Here we see five (liberally-minded) housemates start poisoning all those who they believe will cause more harm than good in life.

Hardly a topic for comedy you might think, but then what you get is the blackest of black humour imaginable. However, it's not just darkly comic, but it also poses quite a few questions about morality along the way. You'll find yourself agreeing with both sides' points of view at some stage I'm sure.

Plus, all the performances are equally strong - Cameron Diaz in a most 'un-Cameron Diaz-like' role, but it's Ron Perlman and Bill Paxton who probably steal their respective scenes.

If you're looking for a laugh-a-minute comedy with a feel-good vibe to it, then steer clear. However, if you're after something much nastier which will make you think, while even raising the odd smile, then give this a go.

A bunch of liberal grad students (played by then unknown Cameron Diaz, Ron Eldard, Annabeth Gish, Jonathan Penner and Coutney B. Vance) accidentally kill, at dinner in their house, a seriously deranged conservative (Bill Paxton) and bury the body. They figure they did the world a favor and invite ultra conservatives to their house, poison them and bury the bodies in the back yard. Among the victims (in cameos) are Charles Durning, Mark Harmon and Jason Alexander. Nora Dunn plays a policewoman investigating all the disappearances.

DARK dark black comedy but it's well-done. The script is sharp and witty and insults BOTH conservatives and liberals. With the sole exception of Vance (who's horrible) the acting is good and we see hunky Penner with his shirt off and walking around in his underwear. Well-directed too with a good eye to compositions and color. Great music score too. If you examine the plot closely there are loopholes and lapses in logic (like they bury about 10 people in their backyard and the neighbors never notice?) but still this is funny and makes you think. Ignored at the time of its release this made a little splash on VHS and deserves to be rediscovered.

This is a film that can be viewed on two levels.

The first level is that of a straightforward black comedy. Five liberal students, who think they have the answers to all the world's ills, have their comfortable world invaded by a redneck racist who is invited in for supper after coming to the aid of one of the students when he has car trouble. Naturally there is a clash of politics and, after a violent argument, the racist is accidentally killed. They decide to bury him in their garden instead of reporting the killing. What follows is a continuation of an earlier debate they had been having; would people be justified in murdering someone if they knew he was evil? Their answer is yes, and soon they are inviting other rightwingers for an evening of dinner, debate and death. On the first level the film is okay.

It is on the second, more cerebral level, that the film really succeeds. The great irony is that the liberals become intolerant, revealing the dangers of political correctness and the very real possibility of a left-wing police state in which alternative views are crushed in the name liberal values.

A good soundtrack, some sparkling cameos by the dinner guests, and a knockout performance by Ron Perlman as the conservative commentator make this largely overlooked comedy well worth a gander.

This is a dark comedy/drama about extreme political views and intolerance. The point of the movie is that some people just wants to be told right and have whatever opinion they have prevail in society.

The message is supposed to be that both extremes are just as bad, and the arguments of both parts are just as simple minded and void of deep, that's intentional. But also that both have the right to exist and is healthy for a society to have a wide variety of opinions.

None of the characters are supposed to be geniuses or deliver any intelligent argument, on the contrary: they're meant to be very close minded. It's obvious that the characters are supposed to be opinionated, self righteous and vapid...not to mention over the top stereotypes (and i mean both the hosts and the guests). The movie itself it's an exaggeration to illustrate a point.

As the plot progresses the characters get more sucked into violent actions (by conviction or group pressure), the bodies start to pile up and the situation spirals out of control. The only character that is more on the normal side, is the cop/sheriff (Nora Dunn). Side note: I liked her performance by the way, and I usually don't like her acting, but she was OK in this one (although not very memorable).

I'm sad to see some of the people who made reviews for the movie didn't get what it was meant to say or bother to watch this all the way through (because it's mentioned in the movie near the end, in case you are a bit slow). But that is exactly the point of the movie, some people just wants to be told right and have whatever opinion they have prevail in society.

On the comedy side, it's got a mild feel of screwball without going too crazy with it, that was very enjoyable. To put this in other words: it doesn't go into Clue or Arsenic and old lace territory, is more subtle but is still noticeable. The comedy moments are very controlled, but is still very funny if you relax and just watch it, instead of taking sides.

To sum it up, the plot is original enough to be interesting and it's very funny if you don't get defensive. It delivers what was promised.

A fantastic movie demonstrating the self righteousness of people on the far left and right of the political spectrum: "I'm right, your wrong, end of story". It's very rare that a film which might be described as a political dark comedy shows the faults of people on the right and left who know that they're always right and it demonstrates that there's really no right or wrong (the homophobic priest wishes to kill all gays, but then the students kill him. Who's right and who's wrong? I suppose it depends on who YOU agree with.). I'm left of centre on many domestic social issues, but this movie made me stand back and think "am i sure I'm always right?". People to the far left or right believe in themselves so much that this movie wont change their views, but I treat people people with conflicting views with a bit more respect today. Fantastic movie!

Who knew that a lot of elements in this movie from 1995 would be coming true in 2020 America.

Like the characters in this movie, many leftists in 2020 desire to eliminate from society those that don't fit their extreme viewpoints.

It isn't just right-wing extremists they want to eliminate from society anymore either, but anyone right of center. All in a desire to create some fictional fairy tale utopian socialist society envisioned by a mid 19th century delusional dreamer Karl Marx that cannot exist in the real world of human existence.

Some of these extremist types now actually occupy seats of power.

The presidential candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders and the election to the U.S. congress of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and three fellow extremists who call themselves "the Squad", has pushed into society radical viewpoints that fit the extreme viewpoints of the characters in the Last Supper.

Recently, Ocasio-Cortez famously echoed a desire from other left-wing extremists to go after Trump supporters after he leaves office. That fits the Stalinist narrative reflected in the characters in this movie to eliminate opposition.

You also have other politicians like John Kerry (whom Biden just named as his "climate change" czar) who speak of of a desire to imprison those who deny climate change.

You have mobs of left-wing extremists like Antifa and BLM rioting in the streets and threatening to kill people who don't share their extreme viewpoints. Left wing politicians condone their behavior and often go after their victims rather than the perps.

You have Hollywood and far-left pundits all calling for the same types of things I have discussed.

While neither far-left nor far-right viewpoints benefit society, the viewpoints of far-left extremists have proven far more dangerous throughout history. Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol-Pot, Fidel Castro, Vladimir Lenin, oppressed and killed millions in the name of "social justice."

It's very scary that these things are right on America's doorstep in 2020.

Did this movie predict liberals in 2020? Well, it's looking more and more to be that way. The difference is, as I have explained, liberals today seek to eliminate everyone who doesn't share their viewpoints, not just the far-right. Anyone right of center or right-leaning who voted for Donald Trump are threatened.

The real leftist radicals today are far more threatening than this group of fictional characters from this little movie from 1995. There are no invitations being sent out with ulterior motives under the guise of dinner and debate, they are coming after people.

This is one of the several dark dramas dealing with political/philosophical issues that seemed to invade the big screen in the 90's. Another prime example but with less heavy drama and more fantasy/comedy is Dogma starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. This 1995 film stars several actors that were big names in the 90's - Cameron Diaz, Bill Paxton and Jason Alexander. The story is very dark and bleak indeed. A group of young college-age liberal intellectuals meet daily to discuss the "enemy" that are conservative extremist and anyone they feel are full of "hate". Though well-meaning and clearly sensitive people, they begin to justify a series of murders. These murders are committed as they invite individuals they despise and disagree with politically and philosophically. They poison the wine using a blue decanter. Visually and dramatically, the movie is one of the few good dark movies that came out of the 90's. Art direction in the film seems to gravitate towards symbolic Diego Rivera style art, especially during the opening and closing credits.

I feel that some of these then unknown actors (mainly Cameron Diaz and Bill Paxton) were overly dramatic in their roles but then again they were struggling to get recognized as actors. This was still before Bill Paxton would enjoy success in later films such as "Titanic" in 1997 and also "Twister" which he starred opposite Helen Hunt. Cameron Diaz came on the Hollywood map with "Something About Mary". Even like this, their dramatic acting is logical and believable. The leader of the group of friends is the most brainwashed of the bunch, nearly conducting himself as a cult leader. In a way, this movie looks at how a cult can function. Also this movie is a caution tale: there is possibility for evil in both the extreme conservatism and extreme liberalism. It seems quite appropriate a story for today's divided country. It's sad to say America is losing its democratic roots in favor of an elitist and partisan climate. I found to be a great and poignant movie.

The dark and slippery satire THE LAST SUPPER is an Orwellian farce, which, whether or not it intends to be, represents the distasteful course that American liberalism has taken over the past few decades. As a meal, THE LAST SUPPER hopes to serve up food for thought, but proves to be more fast food than grand cuisine. And, before we end the lame and obvious food metaphors, let's just say the film has a meaty premise, but is hard to swallow because it is half-baked -- okay, three-quarters baked.

The plot is simple: five rather smug and pretentiously liberal graduate students in Iowa, the heartland of American conservatism, have a weekly ritual of inviting a guest to Sunday dinner so that they can have philosophical conversations about politics. Apparently meant to be self-indulgent and self-congratulating chatter more than real debate, the intellectual hour goes astray when an unexpected guest proves to be a far right lunatic who expresses his sympathy for Adolph Hitler. Before the dessert gets served, it is the guest who gets carved up and the new Sunday night ritual becomes supper and a homicide. After some superficial debate, the housemates decide that they would be doing the world a favor by disposing of potential Hitlers before they became real life Hitlers. It is liberal activism taken to its not-necessarily-logical extreme.

Their guest list (of cameo guest stars) begins with the lunatic war vet (Bill Paxton), a homophobic priest (Charles Durning), a male chauvinist (Mark Harmon) and an anti-environmentalist (Jason Alexander), but quickly degenerates to lesser villains (played by lesser actors) that include an anti-abortion activist, a librarian who dares to object to "The Catcher in the Rye" and a virginal teenage girl who doesn't approve of sex education in school. The checklist of villains (in rapidly declining order) is obviously meant to show how easily the power to destroy can become indiscriminate and, indeed, addictive.

The film has been deemed anti-conservative by some because the supposed heroes are lefties and their victims are from the right and, at least at first, espouse only the most extreme notions of conservatism. But the point is that the various dinner guests do not represent typical conservative thought, but are grotesque caricatures of right wingers. The war vet -- seen through far left eyes -- can't be just patriotic, he has to be a crazed fascist. The priest can't merely see homosexuality as a sin, he has to be virulent in his hatred. The anti-feminist has to be a proponent of rape. Etc., etc., etc. The quintet of killers are not heroes or even anti-heroes, or even psychopaths, but clean-cut, well-educated, well-intentioned typical liberals who become drunk with their own sense of self-righteousness. Their hunt to destroy future Hitlers blinds them to the reality that they are the future Hitlers. For what was Hitler, but a man who thought he could build a better society by eliminating the undesirables? The right-wing victims are such obvious caricatures that they do not inspire anger or hate, but uncomfortable humor, not unlike guest stars doing a skit on "Saturday Night Live." The weakness -- or perhaps the point -- of the left wing assassins is that they are so blandly uninteresting as individuals. This preppy death squad -- Ron Eldard, Cameron Diaz, Annabeth Gish, Jonathan Penner and Courtney B. Vance -- are so homogenized and banal as individuals that they only can be moved to action as a group. The message is that Hitler alone couldn't accomplish much, but a group willing to rationalize any atrocity as a means to a just end is the real danger to society.

It is as a critique of modern liberalism in the era of political correctness that the film is boldly, almost brazenly, sly. The groundbreaking liberalism of the 1960s, a call of dissent in the name of openness and equality, has slowly faded into the background. Diversity has become the liberal buzz word, but it is, literally, skin deep diversity, not diversity of thought. It is said that we become that which we hate the most and as such liberal idealism has increasingly become a dogma of intolerance, double standards and self-indulgence. Liberalism is no longer the antithesis of conservatism, it is the mirror image.

Of course the basic message of THE LAST SUPPER could have been told as well, but differently, with the political roles reversed. Indeed, had the film been made in the 1960s, I suspect that it would be conservatives serving the wine to liberals -- and I suspect that the film would have been satirically sharper and more outrageous. Certainly, in that case, the film's casual religious symbolism might have made sense, religion being a favored main dish to the right. But as is, THE LAST SUPPER's attempts to mock religion seem like a lame afterthought -- an ill-considered seasoning, as it were.

The film is better as a concept rather than a story and lacks a punch. Instead of being spicy or zesty or deliciously decadent, THE LAST SUPPER seems to be served up as something that is good for you, nutritious rather than satisfying. Especially the finale when the last Last Supper is with a conservative talk show host played by Ron Perlman, who may or may not be the Hitler that the we are taunted with throughout the other meals. Just desserts are served up with an ambiguous twist that is as jiggly uncertain as Jell-O. THE LAST SUPPER makes the worst social faux pas of all by sending its viewers away only half filled and hungry for something more.

No wonder none of the characters succeed in convincing any of their guests to change their minds -- these people are so superficial and inarticulate they must surely be grad students in one of those degree-mills that advertises in the back of magazines. If Courtney B. Vance's character is a Ph.D. candidate in political science, how come he hasn't already figured out what Ron Perlman's character has to say about extremists and centrists? "You've never even had sex!" is supposed to deflate the argument of the teenager opposed to mandatory sex education? Of course, this is about as intelligent as the debates get. The rest of the time they just giggle when someone says something they don't like, or resort to infantile name-calling. The whole movie is a chore, but it has given me a good idea. What if a group of people started inviting over directors, screenwriters, producers and actors who made stupid movies that insult the viewer's intelligence, and murdering them???

It was a warm summer night and I was in the video store with my girlfriend. " Hey, this movie has that guy Bill Paxton in it, isn't that the guy you like? " I thought I had seen every Paxton movie out there but I was pleasantly surprised that there was one that I hadn't seen. So we rented it and even though Bill has a small cameo in the film, I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would. First the acting by the major actors is incredible and all the cameos by famous faces is fun to watch. Luke ( Courtney B. Vance ) is my favourite character in the movie. He seems to be a little more intelligent, a little more sinister and a little more angry than the rest of them. And it is his persona that I look forward to seeing in every scene. I looked forward to see what he was going to come out with next. What sick, twisted but convincing point of view that he would coerce his cronies into believing.

The story is about a few friends that are liberals at heart. They have their pretentious meals and drink their pretentious wine every night and talk about what is wrong with the world. Then Paxton comes into the picture and he changes everything.

This film didn't get a whole lot of attention when it came out, but now with Paxton's star clearly on the rise after Titanic and A Simple Plan and Cameron Diaz in the upper echelon of actresses, this film may appeal to more people. And you should do yourself a favour and make yourself one of those people. This is a great film. And besides the entertainment value, it really has something interesting to say. Deciding whether or not you agree with it is half the fun.

What an amazingly contrived film this is! It makes a cheap attempt at intellectualism - proposing a controversial angle on liberal activists' non-action - but falls far short of developing this into something meaningful. The occassional image-manipulation of footage is a poor attempt at casting this as an "art" film - these flimsy cliches left me cold. The characters are clearly underdeveloped and out of touch with reality - as must the scriptwriter be! Choose this film only as a desperate last resort.

I must say, I'm not what you would call a liberal. I'm a Democrat, but I don't consider myself one of those "limousine liberal" -- re: rich, white middle-class people who have never endured poverty in their live, and yet somehow can "feel" for those currentlys uffering. Yeah, right!

All that side, this is a wickedly funny movie and completely unpredictable. I love the intense scenes with the cop and when the liberals start to contemplate rather they should kill or not kill their dinner "guests." it's just great stuff!

Imagine, all these "tolerant" liberals sitting around judging people on what they say and starting to actually LIKE killing. Pretty soon they're killing because of the power of killing, not because they want to "rid the world of evil" -- which, ironically, they've become, since they're knocking off everyone and their mom, including the cop, who is just doing her job.

As the saying goes, "I can't tolerate intolerable people!"

And stay for the ending. It's a KILLER! Ron Perlman is GREAT.

I just read through 48 comments and I think nobody mentioned "Arsenic and Old Lace," which is an obvious source for the idea of quizzing guests and, as a good deed, giving wine with arsenic to those who'd be better off dead.

Here the story is set against a familiar political divide, and as the murders (and cameos) follow one another, the criteria for getting killed become distressingly looser until the audience becomes impatient for the inevitable retribution.

All this exposition of criteria takes considerable time, and evidently character development needed to be sacrificed. I'm sure that in creating a large group of murderers who all share a house, the creators had something in mind (other than "Friends") and we get the impression of an attempt at characterization but it doesn't jell. The movie would have been better off with just one couple in on the plot; that's all Shakespeare needed for Macbeth.

Three male and two female liberal grad students have right-wingers over for dinner, poison them, and bury them in the back yard. An ok film which becomes somewhat redundant with all the ultra-conservative stereotypical dinner guests espousing the opinions we just love to hate, "TLS" does wind up well and makes an important point which has to do with the on-going and age old tug-of-war between left and right and its role in keeping the majority centered. "TLS" is a no frills ensemble production worth a look for those who haven't yet seen it.

Cerebral, subversive, intelligent, knowing, and thought-provoking, The Last Supper is one of the highlights of my video collection. It is also archly funny, for those who like their humour black and strong. The performances from the ensemble cast (even Diaz, who you might have thought was there for box office alone) are uniformly superb, and the director uses clever imagery and other visual tools to help the story along, lifting it above what could otherwise have been a simplistic cinematic piece. Ron Perlman's boisterous conservative steals the show expertly, and you are left laughing and shuddering with equal measure for a long time after the credits roll. Recommended to everyone with a brain.

I've just watched it on TV, not knowing anything previously, just attracted by the generic showing Cameron Diaz and Jason Alexander in the cast. Obviously what followed was totally unexpected. A black comedy, maybe leaving the impression of being a bit too long, or a bit too repetitive, but above any imperfections, putting bluntly in front of us the tableau of who we really are. Traditionalists or progressives, pro-life or pro-choice, religious or atheists, whatever, we are the same, knowing only the extremes, getting nuts of any nuances, believing only in our own righteousness, free to do anything it takes in the name of our righteousness. And after all, a cultural war is a funny name masking the reality of the war: and in a war nobody's innocent. Any direction you take you'll find a bunch of lunatics. Anthony Loyd says that one can die only two ways, fighting the good cause for the wrong reason, or fighting the wrong cause for the good reason. Up2u.

To get it out of the way, I have to say that I found The Last Supper to be pretty much the worst film I've seen for a long time. And that's including RoboCop 3. I accept it's a low budget film, but that's no excuse for the leaden script, the bizarre pacing and direction, and basically wasting what little effort was put into it. The guest stars were all good - indeed, Ron Pearlman was the most likeable character in the film, and I'm talking about his 'fascist politician' scenes, too.

There is nothing to recommend about this movie - the characters are obnoxious and self-assured wannabe standup comedians. My friends and I sat stoney faced as one liner after failed one liner dropped limply from the 'clever and witty script'.

There were moments when character development threatened to appear, as some sort of depth was introduced to the 2D stars, only for it to vanish as if it had wandered in only by accident and didn't want to cause a fuss.

In fact, the characterisation was possibly the reason I hated this film so much. It seems the writers were too busy trying to show the friends enjoying each others' company so much that they forgot to include any reason why. As best I could tell, it seemed they all got together for the conversation/meal evenings purely so they could compete in witty banter and grin.

And for some reason there was an odd are-they-aren't-they sexual tension between the dark haired woman and the black guy that went nowhere and did nothing other than take up valuable story time. Which was probably the point - the entire film could have been condensed to a five minute short, and would have benefitted innumerably from the need to cut the chaff.

The almost final scene, in the kitchen (I won't give any details away, for those who want to see it.) was almost farcical, as the mood violently swung in directions I didn't think possible. The conclusion was obvious, inconclusive, unsatisfying and ultimately reflected the movie as a whole. I guess, in that sense, you could call it a success.

To sum up, this bites. A stellar cast and an intriguing premise result in the worst film of the nineties. Burn it. It must be stopped.

This film is offensive and obnoxious but it pretends to be intellectual and thought provoking. It's all based on the ethical question "is it moral to kill someone if you know they will eventually incite or motivate others to kill?". However, except in the case of a child murderer, the characters just kill ordinary people with right wing political beliefs. Of course, in all instances the right wingers are cartoon-like one-dimensional yokels while their murderers(the heroes of the film) are deep thinkers who anguish over the decision to kill others not for what they've done but what they say and believe. At first I thought it was a satire on liberals who pretend to endorse tolerance but have not an ounce of it for anyone who doesn't share their views. I was a bit taken back when I realized it was quite serious. The film even concludes that's it's morally righteous to kill a right wing pundit if it prevent him/her from someday rising to the office of President. I predict this film will be referred to in the future as an example of the disconnection of Hollywood and mainstream America.