Death at a Funeral Review

Certain things draw my interest in terms of movies.  For example, any movie directed by the Coen Brothers or Kevin Smith will be on my "must see opening weekend" list.  But aside from directors or actors who I really seem to enjoy, there are also types of films that just seem to grab me. 

For example, if the terms "English Black Comedy" are used to describe a film, I'm probably going out to see it.  I love English comedy (from Python to Bean to Black Adder), and I love black comedy, so put the two together, and I'm pretty much in heaven.   

Such was the case with Death at a Funeral, a roaring black comedy with a mostly English cast and directed by American Frank Oz (best known for being Jim Henson's right hand man with the Muppets).  With a tagline of "a story of a family that puts the F U in funeral," Death at a Funeral explores the seedy secrets and hidden lives of one particular dysfunctional family, all gathered to lay to rest a family patriarch.  

The characters are introduced quickly.  There's Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), one of two grieving sons.  Married to Jane, they obsessively talk about buying a place of their own, despite the fact that Daniel clearly has other things on his mind.  Jane seems unfazed by the fact that Daniel's father has died.  The other son, Robert (Rupert Graves), is a successful writer who lives in New York and has become quite acclimated to American culture.  So much so, in fact, that Daniel is surprised he even bothered to show up for the funeral.  

The fraternal struggle between Daniel and Robert become unimportant, however, when a midget (Peter Dinklage) shows up at the funeral threatening to expose a dark secret unless he is paid a handsome sum.  In the meantime, they also have to deal with their cousin's fiancee (Alan Tudyk), who has ingested some designer drugs cooked up by the fiancee's brother, not to mention an irritable uncle (Peter Vaughan) who is having bowel issues.  

It all leads up to a hilarious conclusion, though if you are not one with a bit of a dark or twisted sense of humor, I wonder how hilarious you'll actually find it.   The sequence of scenes involving the midget blackmailer is one of the funniest sequences of events I've seen in a comedy in quite a long time.  

Tudyk is terrific as the tripping fiancee, while Macfadyen brings a sense of responsibility and appropriate somberness to the procedings.  He plays a good straight man amongst the insanity going on, and his performance helps hold the film together, helping to avoid it flying off the edge.  It's one thing to make a bit of a farce; it's another to let it get out of hand.  

Death at a Funeral is not for everyone.  The humor isn't so much the classic dry English wit as it is dark farce, but there is a lot of it here, starting from the opening scene.  Fans of dark humor will find a lot to like about this Death.