Shaboomer’s Film Focus

With the awesome tagline “From director Frank Oz comes the story of a family that puts the F U in funeral” Death at a Funeral is a quirky hilarious and heartwarming story which focuses on a dysfunctional British family in the morbid setting of a funeral.

The DVD was released last month and was directed by Frank Oz who previously directed such films as The Stepford Wives, Little Shop of Horrors and The Muppets Take Manhattan and was written by Dean Craig.

In this film, all Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) wants to do is provide a nice funeral for his father’s death but as his family and friends are gathered the services stumble upon many interruptions including one man (Peter Dinklage), a stranger to everyone except the deceased, who has a dark secret which he threatens to expose unless financially compensated. Never mind all the drama brought about by Daniel’s family members and friends: competition with his famous writer brother who’s back from the US, a friend who obsesses about his recent rash fearing it may be a deadly disease, his cousin’s fiancé hallucinating on drugs, and his handicapped, bitter pain in the arse Uncle Alfie.

This type of film could easily be translated into a play with its one major location and the way the events carry out through the ensemble of characters. Think of Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) which was originally a play and was adapted to the screen. The majority of the film takes place in the one location of the Brewster house with several characters appearing and disappearing adding more and more layers to the chaos in which Mortimer (Cary Grant) is trying to control. Also coincidently Arsenic and Old Lace involves a plot with multiple deaths and, with the presence of a cop in the home, the characters become increasingly conscious and paranoid about their actions. In Death at a Funeral Mortimer and the Brewster house is replaced by Daniel and his home and the cop is replaced with a Priest which seems even more appropriate of a moral reminder.

With an ensemble cast so well put together its hard to pick out any one person who stands out the most but the American actor Alan Tudyk (Knocked Up, Serenity) must be recognized for his impressive scene stealing performance. We are introduced to his character Simon (yes he has an English accent) as a nervous guy who is dependent on Martha (Daisy Donovan), his fiancé, for support and is dreading the funeral of her uncle because her father will be there to judge and belittle Simon. One quick stop at Martha’s brother’s house, the pharmacist student, and everything goes wrong for Simon because Martha gives him what she thinks is valium but in fact is her brother’s experimental drug which causes similar effects as acid. Throughout the rest of the film we are sucked into Simon’s hilarious moments of hallucinations, nudity, and emotional outbursts. What’s great about this character and Tudyk’s performance is this character could easily become just a source of comic relief but instead he actually grows throughout the film and Simon and Martha’s relationship strengthens through the judgment from others of Simon’s strange and inappropriate behavior.

If you like black comedies and are looking for a good laugh, Death at a Funeral is the film to see.

~Shaboomer~