Death At A Funeral
Published Jun 2 2010, 16:30 BST | By Ben Rawson-Jones
Transported from the English countryside to sunny California, the movie focuses on a funeral of the father to squabbling brothers - the underachieving Aaron (Rock) and high-flying author Ryan (Lawrence). Various dysfunctional family members and hangers-on are in attendance, including Elaine (Zoe Saldana) and her current and former boyfriends Oscar (Luke Marsden) and Derek (Luke Wilson) respectively. Then up crops one very mysterious and diminutive guest armed with incriminating photos of the deceased. Throw in some hallucinogenic acid tablets mislabeled as Valium and mayhem quickly breaks loose.
It's quite easy to be overly critical about Death At A Funeral, simply because there is an absolutely brilliant comedy buried six feet under a script that's lacking witty dialogue and several performances that are grossly out of sync with the tone of the movie. What possessed director Neil LaBute (responsible for the risible Wicker Man remake) to cast Martin Lawrence as a celebrated writer? Presumably he'd choose Amy Winehouse to replace Julie Andrews in a remake of The Sound Of Music.
Even if Lawrence was selected to play the corpse at the funeral, he'd have found a way of unleashing his sickly gurning and feral facial expressions to kill any nearby gag. The obnoxious 'in your face' style of the former 'Big Momma' is contagious too, as James Marsden ruins the role of the narcotically-charged boyfriend (played with brilliance by Alan Tudyk in 2007) by mugging away far too much and stripping the situation of any remote plausibility.
Mercifully, Chris Rock puts in a restrained and sympathetic performance as the beleaguered son who yearns to win acceptance from his family. Peter Dinklage is similarly wonderful as the devious funeral-crasher Frank, in a role he reprises from the original. Danny Glover is also a hoot as Uncle Russell, a misanthropic and wheelchair-bound pensioner who makes Victor Meldrew look like a children's TV presenter.
At one point Uncle Russell remarks 'I'm too old for this s***', a homage to his Lethal Weapon catchphrase. Try replacing the word 'old' for 'good' and he would be a lot closer to the mark indeed.
> What do you think of the movie? Share your views
Watch the trailer, it's got all the best bits in it. This has to be the biggest disappointment of the year. Nothing to do with it being a remake, it's just not good enough.
June 5th 2010 at 12:47pm
Having loved the original, which I came across randomly, as it was completely overlooked in its promotion... I was a bit wary of yet another 'hollywood' remake.
It's a completely English film, full of subtle humour, black comedy, sarcasm and irony which sad to say, the yanks don't really have a grip on.
I was prepared to go see it to compare, but the trailer alone made me want to leave the cinema. Nothing about it looks new, or even interesting. All they've done is put a few black folks in there.
Go buy the original DVD online for a great price,.... i know i have.
June 5th 2010 at 10:48am
reilly nice, i love it
June 4th 2010 at 6:25pm
I love the 2007 version and I thought Maybe, just MAYBE, i'd be able to see it as a Different version of the same story. But then I saw in the trailor that they'd made a huge deal of what was a throw away line in the original film (The arrival of the wrong dead body) and nabbed all of the Adlibs the cast threw in from the original, inclduing the perched-like-a-gizelle position Alan Tudyk just did without direction. It shows no imagination at all went in to this remake. I still have yet to see it but from the trailor, I probably shouldn't.
June 3rd 2010 at 4:33pm
Great movie.
With a great cast. It has got great reviews in the US. I knew the English critics would pan it. They don't like the Americans remaking English films. The Americans have made this film better than the original imo. Some real lol moments. I recommend this film.
June 3rd 2010 at 10:37am