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The Scottish Tale: Loosely based on Macbeth, this film is about a modern Scottish poet ("Mac") living in Northern California who has fallen in love with his brother's fiance ("Beth"). Get it? Ha ha ha ha. Get it? His name is "Mac. Her name is "Beth". Put them together, and what do you get? The tape cover tells you that the director, MacKinley Polhemus, once had a screenplay optioned by Disney, and has an episode of "Baywatch" under his belt. It also sports an impressive array of awards from various film festivals. The film, however, is wretched. The screenplay is as overt as a streetwalker. The low-budget was clearly low - bugs fly in front of the camera, the director has two-shots in every scene (medium shot, long shot), characters play whole scenes showing only 3/4 of their heads, or the back of same, the lighting is atrocious, and the players (many family members of the director) are to a person stilted. The female lead is so bad that I hereby retract all the awful things I said about the actress who starred in "The Brothers McMullen" and "She's the One", Maxine Bahns, who, in comparison is Streep-meets-Hepburn (either one). I've seen better community theatre performances in West Side Story for players over 40. To those who bemoan the indie explosion, here is your best ammunition. Grade: F.
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