Watching the same story again I was struck at how some of the big chunks of dialogue worked with just the same, and yet oddly, somewhat better. I liked the 2007 Frank Oz film mildly, this time however, my laughter was combustible. The Uncle Russell toilet fiasco, with the Norman character gets his hands stuck in Uncle’s drawers while he is relieving himself, had disgusted me the first time out. Yet somehow I found it really funny this time. Is it because the comic timing between Glover and Morgan is better than the original British actors? The speediness of the editing which doesn’t stop for a moment to think?
Perhaps Morgan, a supporting player, has a great horrified look for a comedy as the guy that is in over his head. Rock and Lawrence, as brothers Aaron and Ryan, are the top two guys in the cast but its Lawrence with all the great lines, and he gets to work with a running joke that he doesn’t have any movie to contribute to dad’s funeral. Other tension amounts because both of them are professional writers, but only Lawrence is published (are they soft-core porn novels, it sounds?). The reverend signed up for the service to hear Lawrence’s eulogy – everybody else wants his eulogy, too – and Rock is insulted, repeatedly, because his upcoming eulogy is not wanted.
Peter Dinklage (“The Station Agent”), as Frank, is the blackmailer who wants $30,000 from the brothers so he won’t show to their mom (Loretta Devine, “Waiting to Exhale”) revealing intimate homosexual photos with their dad. Dinklage, the only consistently working diminutive actor in the movies, reprises his role from the 2007 film. Dealing earnestly with the problem, Rock agrees to shell out the money by check but then changes his mind. Then there is a wrestling match between the three of them. Dinklage gets tied up, with perhaps the plan, to keep him occupied until the funeral is over.
The mixed races relationship between Zoe Saldana (“Avatar”) and James Marsden (“The Box”) stands out at the funeral, especially after Marsden takes Valium. Only it’s not Valium, it was mislabeled in the container by Columbus Short (“Cadillac Records”), a cousin. But there’s no prejudice really. Saldana’s father just wants her to be with the other white guy, played by Luke Wilson whom might as well be playing average Joe Bauers. Marsden, high on what might be acid, wrecks the initial funeral service and runs havoc in a nude screwball way.
That Valium container gets in the wrong hands again, and when the boys are trying to placate Dinklage, they feed him a bunch of pills and then after a nasty spill, they got a corpse on their hands. It almost makes sense for them to force the corpse in with their father, to nudge them in together for eternity. As long as the resumed service doesn’t require an open coffin, they might be able to get away with it. The predicament gets heavier when more and more members of the family find out about it, all implicating each other.
The film is directed by Neil LaBute who has never done this kind of comedy before. Previously he has made some nasty comedies (“In the Company of Men,” “Your Friends and Neighbors”), the kind that makes you wince at the selfishness of white collar man. Recently he directed Samuel L. Jackson in “Lakeview Terrace,” one of the most underrated thrillers in recent years. “Death at a Funeral” couldn’t be more different, but he lets his cast generously engage in their scenes while coherently shuffling back in forth between scenes that are at different interiors and exteriors in the house. This is a movie about a funeral service and two corpses, but LaBute keeps things rolling. 92 fast, surprisingly feel-good minutes.
Go to the official site at http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/deathatafuneral/
Grade: B
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