This entertaining, thoughtful black comedy might be seen as an American answer to Shallow Grave, since it focuses on a group of self-satisfied young people sharing accommodation, whose chance encounter with a criminal prompts them to descend into madness and confront their own violent impulses.
A houseful of grad students invite to dinner a truck driver (Bill Paxton) who has given one of them a lift, only to be disturbed by his near-fascist opinions and thinly restrained violence. When he pulls a knife on them and accuses them of talking rather than defending their principles, he is stabbed to death and buried in the vegetable garden, inspiring the housemates to invite more right-wingers over for a friendly debate followed by murder. The garden fills up, the group squabbles over methods, a sheriff pokes around the disappearances and a far right talk show pundit (Ron Perlman) happens along in time for a final meal-cum-massacre.
Neatly scripted by Dan Rosen and capably directed by Title, this scores genuine but slightly glib laughs at the expense of its victims - nice cameos from, among others, Jason Alexander (a burger-munching eco-slob), Mark Harmon (an arch sexist and seducer) and Charles Durning (a homophobic priest). The film's strength lies in its characterisation of the lazy liberals turned non-stereotyped murderers, played by a clever mix of stars out for credibility (Diaz, Annabeth Gish) and less familiar players taking advantage of showy roles (Vance, Penner).
It seems as if, like Shallow Grave, The Last Supper is going to have trouble coming up with an ending, but this pulls a fable-like punchline out of a fairy tale storm and leaves you with a wicked chuckle. It may be too clever for immediate cultdom - it would make a great stage play, which means there's little showy film business - but it's one of those films you'll remember.
