Death at a Funeral

This is an old style screwball type comedy, directed by Frank Oz. You could imagine seeing this on a stage somewhere but you would never see it with this cast. It is in quite a bit of different direction of his last film, The Stepford Wives. The plot revolves around the funeral of a father and the chaos that ensues as one element after another goes awry. The script is very well written, even if the basic plot points are somewhat predictable (once a dwarf is introduced you can guess where the movie is going, which I think says a lot about how we view dwarves and how they are used in the movies). The script wisely never veers far off course and doesn't get lost in a lot of asides that are not very important (the same cannot be said of Stardust). The performances given by the cast overcome any problem with the script by a wide margin, and I do recommend going to see this film.

Simon, played by Alan Tudyk, is not having one of his better days when the funeral is held, having accidently was given what his girlfriend thought was valium. Alan Tudyk is also starring in the upcoming 3:10 to Yuma. Alan practically steals the movie out from under everyone else. You could justify seeing the movie based on his performance alone. His performance in Death at a Funeral is a joy to behold, a feeling of flying. His girlfriend is Jane, played by Keeley Hawes. She gives an excellent performance as someone who is put in a bad position, but doesn't forget what is important to her, a very rich performance. In fact the whole cast is nothing short of stellar in this movie. While watching the movie, the character's motivations for their actions are as clear as a bell, and more importantly their actions feel true to their characters. This is a feat that is not as easy to pull off as might be imagined. The movie has a nice feel to it and makes for a short pleasant quick hour and a half. Half of the credit should go to the script and to the direction, but the other half should go to the cast, a wonderful cast, a total ensemble piece.

Matthew Macfadyen, here playing Daniel, does a great job of playing the man trying to hold of these problems together. I will be interested to see what he will do next, you get the impression there are depths to him that we have not seen. He does a great job of trying to keep calm in the eye of a storm. Peter Dinklage, of The Station Agent fame, give his part an edge that it desperately needed, and this adds a lot to how the movie plays out (maybe he should have skipped making Underdog which I haven't seen yet and from the look of the trailer probably won't ?). There are even more nice performances in this movie that I could go on about. The casting for Death at a Funeral is right on the money and always interesting. Even Bremner, from Trainspotting, plays an old boyfriend who can't quite get the message. Is the Jane Asher here, who plays the deceased's wife, the same woman that is Paul McCartney's old flame?

If you are in the mood for a comedy, go see it. It is nice that there is still a place for this type of movie. It makes me want to watch Arsenic and Old Lace again.

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com