Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
Cquote1
"We're not bad people, Mac... just underachievers who have to make up for lost time."
Pat
Cquote2


Scotland, PA is a 2001 film written and directed by Billy Morrisette, starring James LeGros, Maura Tierney, and Christopher Walken.

Joe "Mac" McBeth and his wife Pat are too old to be flipping burgers at Duncan's Cafe. Both of them receive a brief vision of what life would be like with Joe as the head of the restaurant; naturally, Pat decides the best way to accomplish this is to kill Duncan and make it look like a robbery. So that's what they do.

Under new management and a new name, the restaurant does great business. But forces, internal and external, threaten to tear everything apart. Banko, Mac's best friend, and Lt. McDuff, the detective investigating Duncan's murder, both have their suspicions about the local fast-food king and queen, while the happy couple themselves are driven mad by their guilt and paranoia.

That's right, you've seen this story before. It's The Scottish Play, only this time it's in rural Pennsylvania in the 70's, and it's all played for laughs.


In addition to the tropes in the source material, provides examples of:[]

  • Actor Allusion: McDuff's aside that he used to be a dancer.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Donald. It gets pretty blatant at the end. Hell, it's pretty blatant at the beginning.
    • The two male witches have a lot of innuendo between them, even though they're supposedly two non-sexual partners in a polyamorous relationship.
Cquote1

 Witch 1: Why do I have to be in the back?

Witch 2: You said you liked it in the back!

Cquote2
Cquote1

 Pat: You know, the most important thing is that we carry on [Duncan's] legacy. You know, keep his name alive!

[Cut to the "Duncan's" sign being torn off the front of the restaurant.]

Cquote2
  • The Ditz: Officer Ed.
    • Banko is also an example.
  • Fisher King: Completely inverted from the original play. Business at the restaurant does far better under the McBeths than it does before or after.
  • Greasy Spoon: Duncan's was closer to this than a true Burger Fool, which is what Pat and Mac turn the restaurant into.
  • Hard Work Montage / Good Times Montage: The renovation of Duncan's into McBeth's, and the resulting prosperity for the McBeths.
    • The "prosperity" is charmingly white trash too, such as upgrading from a trailer to a ranch.
  • Hunting Accident
  • Hypocritical Humor:
Cquote1

 McDuff: What do you think of Malcolm?

Mrs. Lenox: Oh, well. I think he's rude, selfish and evil. But I never once judged him.

Cquote2
Cquote1

 Witch #1: Maybe McBeth should kill McDuff's whole family?

Witch #2: Yeah that would work, like 1,000 years ago!

Cquote2
Advertisement