Opening Day: 27 September 2007

Synopsis:

A dignified send-off for a loved one erupts into uproarious chaos when romance, jealousy, in-laws, hallucinogens, dark secrets, life-long yearnings and a spot of bold blackmail all collide grave-side in the irreverent British comedy DEATH AT A FUNERAL. Directed by Frank Oz (Bowfinger, In & Out) and featuring a cast made up of the cream of Britains crop, the film mischievously explores what happens on the day when a typically divided family is finally forced to come to terms with each others bad behavior, outrageous faults, skeletons in the closet and all..

Movie Review:

A comedy revolving around death can either be the most difficult or easiest thing to pull off. And as such it can turn out rather funny or rather offensive, maybe even both. In many ways, director Frank Oz knows the formula to each of those scenarios. He knows that any opportunity for an extended family gathering is rife with opportunities for humour and in many cases, good old-fashioned off-kilter situational comedy. Inspired and perhaps a little encumbered by its American sitcom sensibilities, “Death at a Funeral” is more a mannered comedy than the comedy of manners that one might expect from a clan of eccentric Britons.

Oz does not concern the film with social observations of the unfolding frenzies and states of minds that follow the guests who arrive at a quintessentially English country estate to pay their respects (well, they try at least) to straight-laced Daniel’s (Matthew Macfadyen) father. It brings the punchlines right to the fore and regards the funereal backdrop as an afterthought. The rest of the ensemble includes Daniel’s wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes) who desperately wants to move out and move on from Daniel's recently widowed mother (Jane Asher) as soon as possible. Adding to Daniel’s despair is his obnoxious brother Robert (Rupert Graves) who flies in first-class from New York City and whose presence is all it takes to drive Daniel into a ball of seething insecurities. Rounding off the rest of the film’s more prominent guests is the irrepressible curmudgeon Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), the enigmatic and self-serving American with a secret, Peter (Peter Dinklage) and the accidentally drugged up suitor in Simon (Alan Tudyk) amongst others.

The cast of characters is broadly presented but the strength of performances across the board (especially by the rubber-faced Tudyk and the reliably reserved Macfadyen) paper over the indistinctiveness of its plot and situations. The characters' peccadilloes are observed through the eyes of nobody in particular but exist independently from its main storyline even if they revolve around a single estate. Fortunately, it all resolves and fits into a compact running time that progresses into a crescendo of laughs as the film reaches its final third.

It retains a traditional joke scheme that seems to hint at punchlines and inevitably crude sight gags before it occurs, which gives it a comforting familiarity and an unfortunate predictability, that also never really attempts to make itself very memorable at all. “Death at a Funeral” is kinder and gentler than most films of its nature. Love in the family is coded into the impertinent rejoinders and mutual disdain for shared circumstances, all clearly very American in taste but very British in execution.

Movie Rating:

(Predictable but genuinely amusing farce)

Review by Justin Deimen