Films Outside the Loop Jeanne Chappé

This film is an extremely hilarious black comedy and a biting satire about censorship and the growing intolerance of free speech. The film begins in the dark of night with a raven ripping at a missing girl's poster tacked to a telephone pole.

The major players are five VERY liberal grad students who share a house. They invite a stranger to their home each Sunday for dinner and intellectual discussion. The grad students are slyly played by Annabeth Gish, Ron Eldard, Cameron Diaz, Jonathan Penner and Courtney B. Vance. On one Sunday night, Pete (Ron Eldard) is stranded in the rain and he is picked up by Zack. Zack (Bill Paxton) then becomes their guest for Sunday night dinner and discussion. At dinner, Zack makes the comment, "If you can take a stand for somethin' you'd kill for...that's somethin', somethin' special!" This group takes it to heart! Intellectually...what if you had the chance to kill Hitler before he did any damage? In other words, "What if you killed somebody whose death makes the world a better place?" Food for thought...so to speak!

Norman Arbuthnot (Ron Perlman) is a right-wing television commentator and an aspiring politician who is despised by everyone in this tight group. He is their last guest for dinner and discussion. There are also cameos from several actors that are simply hysterical. Charles Durning, Mark Harmon and Jason Alexander are mind-blowingly funny! If political correctness goes too far...this film is the forecast of the outcome. Anyone espousing the wrong views will end up fertilizing tomato plants! Nora Dunn ("Saturday Night Live") plays Sheriff Alice Stanley. She is trying to find the kidnapper of the missing girl and ends up finding something totally different...the world's sweetest tomatoes.

Intellectual superiority and moral justification wear differently on all five of these liberal thinkers. There is great old rock music that is very apropos to the mood of the film and some incredible visual images. As usual, I do NOT want to give away too much. I have seen this film several times and every time I watch it...it gets funnier and more relevant! Are you PC? If not, watch out where you go for Sunday dinner!

Just remember..."The green bottle is good, the blue bottle is bad!"

Runtime: 1:28

This film is available on DVD, VHS, cable or satellite.

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This column is dedicated to those films that most of the world missed!