Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Cameron Diaz | ... | Jude | |
Ron Eldard | ... | Pete | |
Annabeth Gish | ... | Paulie | |
Jonathan Penner | ... | Marc | |
Courtney B. Vance | ... | Luke | |
Bill Paxton | ... | Zachary Cody | |
Nora Dunn | ... | Sheriff Alice Stanley | |
Ron Perlman | ... | Norman Arbuthnot | |
Dan Rosen | ... | Deputy Hartford | |
Amber Taylor | ... | Girl in Coffee Shop | |
![]() |
Matt Cooper | ... | Jerk in Coffee Shop |
Charles Durning | ... | Rev. Gerald Hutchens | |
Mark Harmon | ... | Dominant Male | |
![]() |
Gil Segel | ... | Iowa Resident at Door |
Rachel Chagall | ... | Abortion Activist |
Jude, Luke, Marc, Paulie and Pete are liberal-minded roommates and grad students at a Iowa post-secondary institution. Every Sunday for the past year, they have hosted a dinner party, inviting a friend over to have an open-minded discussion about whatever topics are of interest. On a dark and stormy night when Pete was supposed to bring a friend for one of those dinners, he instead comes home with Zachary Cody, who rescued a stranded Pete whose car broke down. They invite Zach to stay for dinner instead of Pete's missing friend. They soon find out that Zach is among other things a racist neo-Nazi, which brings up a potentially dangerous situation for Jewish Marc and black Luke. After some physical altercations and verbal threats, Marc ends up stabbing Zach dead out of what he considers self-defense. As the friends discuss what to do about Zach, they finally come to the conclusion that in killing Zach, they have done society a service. So they ponder 'why not invite other ... Written by Huggo
An "if". as seed of a special dark comedy. a nice idea. repetitive scenes saved by a good performances. and tomotoes. a war of visions in the skin of a strange hospitality. and the known flavours of old fashion film noire. its basic virtue - it is a real provocative film. not impecable but using a smart story who propose new perspectives about values, challenge of idea, punishment in Raskolnikov style and the game with not the reasonable end. because it seems like a cage with rats and the end, after long time after you saw it , is the more significant memory about it. a film about justice and "soft" form of intolerance. a sort of clean up. and the magnificent performance of Ron Perlman