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Craig Younkin
Movie Review
Death at a Funeral
By Craig Younkin Published August 29, 2007
US Release: August 17, 2007
Directed by: Frank Oz
Starring: Matthew MacFadyen , Peter Dinklage , Ewen Bremner , Alan Tudyk
R language and drug content
Running Time: 91 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $8,565,174
Directed by: Frank Oz
Starring: Matthew MacFadyen , Peter Dinklage , Ewen Bremner , Alan Tudyk
R language and drug content
Running Time: 91 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $8,565,174
D+
The comedy set-ups are just hokey and contrived and the mayhem that follows is just plain obvious.
What better way to end the summer than with a comedy about death! The movie opens with Daniel (Mathew Macfadyen), who is opening up his home to family and friends for the funeral of his deceased father. His arrogant novelist-brother Robert (Rupert Graves) is coming as well as his cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) with her new fiancé, Simon (Alan Tudyk). Only problems ensue as, first, the funeral director sends over the wrong body, and then Simon ingests some LSD on the way to the service. A mysterious guest (Peter Dinklage) with a dark secret about Daniel’s father also threatens to ruin this very special day, leaving Daniel and Robert to do everything they can to hold everything together. All kinds of mayhem and mishaps ensue.
You will know within the first 5 minutes whether or not you'll laugh at "Death at a Funeral." Personally, I thought it was like a really awful sitcom, and if you've seen the state of sitcoms these days, you know that's pretty damn bad. This is the type of comedy that thinks a character being stoned throughout the entirety of the movie is ingeniously clever. This is the type of comedy that expects you to laugh when it turns out dad has a gay lover. While I was watching this movie I was thinking that this stuff might have been funny 10 years ago but I'm actually kinda surprised that the British, people who are usually pretty funny, would come up with material that's this old and tired. The comedy set-ups in this movie are just hokey and contrived (a character just randomly takes a pill lying around thinking it's Valium) and the mayhem that follows is just plain obvious (think the Valium guy is going to come in contact with the dead body?). The actors give it their all, Alan Tudyk for one plays a really good "high guy" and he does score some laughs and there is a very funny scene involving feces, but it's not enough to make this movie work. At an hour and a half, I really couldn't wait for it to end.
"Death at a Funeral" is a forgettable dud, a British comedy that has all the wit of an Afghani comedy. If you do want to talk comedy however, I would like to take this opportunity to again recommend "Superbad," a movie I wish I could have seen to wash away "Funeral" from my head. It really is one of the best teen comedies to come out in I really don't even know how long. As for "Funeral," well, you pretty much get my opinion on this one.
You will know within the first 5 minutes whether or not you'll laugh at "Death at a Funeral." Personally, I thought it was like a really awful sitcom, and if you've seen the state of sitcoms these days, you know that's pretty damn bad. This is the type of comedy that thinks a character being stoned throughout the entirety of the movie is ingeniously clever. This is the type of comedy that expects you to laugh when it turns out dad has a gay lover. While I was watching this movie I was thinking that this stuff might have been funny 10 years ago but I'm actually kinda surprised that the British, people who are usually pretty funny, would come up with material that's this old and tired. The comedy set-ups in this movie are just hokey and contrived (a character just randomly takes a pill lying around thinking it's Valium) and the mayhem that follows is just plain obvious (think the Valium guy is going to come in contact with the dead body?). The actors give it their all, Alan Tudyk for one plays a really good "high guy" and he does score some laughs and there is a very funny scene involving feces, but it's not enough to make this movie work. At an hour and a half, I really couldn't wait for it to end.
"Death at a Funeral" is a forgettable dud, a British comedy that has all the wit of an Afghani comedy. If you do want to talk comedy however, I would like to take this opportunity to again recommend "Superbad," a movie I wish I could have seen to wash away "Funeral" from my head. It really is one of the best teen comedies to come out in I really don't even know how long. As for "Funeral," well, you pretty much get my opinion on this one.
Craig's Grade: D+
Craig's Overall Grading: 340 graded movies
| A | 10.9% | |
| B | 41.8% | |
| C | 31.8% | |
| D | 15.3% | |
| F | 0.3% |
