Author: Dan Grant (dan.grant@bell.ca) from Toronto, Ontario

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.


9.5/10

Very, very dark comedy with an intriguing premise and great acting. Lots of cameos from various celebrities as the dinner guests, ranging from Bill Paxton to Ron Perlman (Hellboy) to Jason Alexander. Of the five main characters, Courtney B. Vance's character Luke is by far the most interesting, as he's just as extreme and 'evil' as the people they're poisoning. Thought the premise is interesting, the film is far too short, and doesn't go much beyond 'invite a conservative guest over, kill them, rinse, repeat'. I did like the ending a lot though. It's an entertaining and interesting watch, with some hilarious bits (the bit with the lady who doesn't drink wine had me in stitches) and a definite message, though it's neither overtly liberal or conservative.

I liked it more than you did, but still, nice review. :smile:

Thanks. I didn't think anyone else would have seen this, it's pretty obscure. I hadn't even heard of it before I caught it on TV last weekend. I only watched it because I saw Bill Paxton was in it - pretty much the same as you, I guess. I thought it was good, but just wasted some of its potential. Some of the humour was so dark, I loved it.