MOVIE REVIEW: DEATH AT A FUNERAL

I'm not a fan of British comedies, but I have always heard that Death at a Funeral was worth a watch. When I saw that an American remake of it was coming out only three years after the original, it had me scratching my head. Still, the American remake didn't look that appealing to me either. Sure it has a ton of stars including; Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Danny Glover, James Marsden, and Tracy Morgan, but I wasn't itching to see. I had planned on skipping it all together, but I was drug to it anyway and I have to say I am very glad I was.



When Aaron and Ryan's father passes away, the whole family reunites for the funeral. Once together, everything seems to go wrong. Ryan, the hot shot author, turns out to be having money problems which puts Aaron in bind financially with the funeral costs. Elaine brings her fiance Oscar to the wedding even though her father highly disproves of him. On the way, she gives him one of her pharmacologist brother's Valiums to calm his nerves, which actually turns out to be a powerful hallucinogenic which causes him to trip out for the rest of the day. Elaine's ex shows up for one last shot at her love which causes her to juggle keeping up with Oscar and avoiding him. And while all of this is going on, Aaron still has to worry about his wife who is on the last day of her cycle and desperately wanting a child pressuring him for some "alone time" on the day of his father's funeral and a stranger who shows up wanting to blackmail the family for thirty thousand dollars.

The film is directed by Neil LaBute. LaBute made one of the worst films I have ever seen when he remade The Wicker Man a few years back, but then I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Lakeview Terrace, so I was kind of on the fence about this film. Thankfully, he handled the ensemble cast very well and produced a film that turned out to be pretty funny.








Surprisingly, Rock and Lawrence step aside from the comedic role in this film and leave the comedy to James Marsden, Danny Glover and Tracy Morgan. I was really surprised at how funny James Marsden turned out to be in this film. I have not seen the original, but I have heard that he outdoes Alan Tudyk's version of the character. And I know that Glover has done some comedy before, but I have never seen him like this. I think he could finish out his career doing comedy films alone. Regardless, I want to see Glover in more things. And once again, I figured that Morgan would get old quick, but I thought he was funny throughout the whole film.




My only real complaint about the film is Chris Rock. I have never really liked any of his films simply because I don't think he is a very good actor. I think a lot of times, because someone can't get up on stage and do stand-up comedy, that they should get movie roles. Rock is no different in this film. Anytime he is delivering lines, they either feel forced or I feel like I'm watching a play rather than a film.

If your wanting some good laughs this will definitely be the movie to see. I can't imagine anyone walking out of the movie and not having laughed once during the film. I give it a three and a half out of five.