summary five liberal iowa graduate students share a house and carry on a tradition of a large sunday dinner .
for a year now they have been inviting a guest for dinner and discussion .
on this occasion one of the roommates , pete ( ron eldard ) , brings home a stranger who picked him up when his car broke down .
the stranger is zack ( bill paxton ) who appears like a decent enough good samaritan .
nothing could be further from the truth .
after some dinner conversation it appears that zack is , among other things , a racist
" you know my grandfather once said that if he knew you coloreds were going to be so much trouble we 'd have picked the damn cotton ourselves " , and an anti - semite .
an argument escalates at the dinner table and leads to violence .
after zack assaults marc ( jonathan penner ) and pete , zack is killed .
the roommates are at odds with what to do .
marc , pete and paulie ( annabeth gish ) immediately wish to call the police .
luke ( courtney b . vance ) and jude ( cameron diaz ) suggest something different .
after more discussion they agree to dispose of the body and cover it up .
they do not want to be sent to jail for what they feel was a justifiable homicide .
when it is done the roommates realize that it was easier than they thought .
so easy in fact that they decide that every sunday their dinner guest would be someone who opposes of their views .
if they all agree that the guest deserves to die , they will poison them and bury them in the back yard .
the back yard fills up rather quickly , its ' victims including ( among others ) a right to life extremist , an anti - environmentalist and a homophobe .
by the time the roommates get to their tenth victim they begin to question their methods .
are they giving the guests a chance ?
are they even giving them good food anymore ?
this film is what i like to call a " hidden treasure " .
this film is such a pleasant surprise .
a well written , devilish satire that is funny , sexy and original
.
this film should be a hit , but i guess the fact that it apparently had no marketing would n't give it much of a chance .
i had never heard of it until i saw a copy at my video store .
stacy title does a wonderful job directing .
she somehow finds the time to give all of the characters enough screen time to develop a distinct personality .
> from the five members of the house to other key characters including sheriff stanley ( nora dunn ) , the local law closing in on the truth , and the dream dinner guest , norman arbuthnot ( ron perlman ) , a rush limbaugh clone who should be the roommates easiest kill .
perlman gives the films ' best performance .
he finds the right note as the right wing big mouth who simultaneously offends and gains followers , and may just inadvertently talk his way out of death .
the other actors are convincing as well , as all of the roommates deal with their murderous ways .
some of the characters appear to be heading down the road towards insanity , while others grieve their decisions .
when friends ask me to recommend a movie , this is usually the first one i think of .
i am not saying that this is my favorite movie ( although it is in my top ten ) , but because the film was such a wonderful surprise
, i have a fondness for it .
i also try to recommend films like this : ones that have not been seen by many people , but should .
when friends ask me to recommend a movie , this is usually the first one i think of well written , devilish satire that is funny , sexy and original such a pleasant surprise such a wonderful surprise does a wonderful job directing