★ 8 / 10
Great watch, will likely watch again, and do
Kamurai
Great watch, will likely watch again, and do recommend. This is a great example of a movie. That may seem like a nothing statement, but more movies, especially…
Great watch, will likely watch again, and do recommend.
This is a great example of a movie. That may seem like a nothing statement, but more movies, especially ones that insist on multi-threaded story lines should pay attention to how this movie works structurally and mechanically. There are about 10 different story lines happening, and it is almost perfectly balanced. There are pivotal moments when the story lines come together (very similar things in "Crash", "Love, Actually", "Snatch", and "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels"), but without having to cut all over the place or having to re-tell parts of the story from other character perspectives. The movie moves on almost seamlessly from event to event, at a rather tilted rate at one point, and is never distracted from the movie.
There are a ton of interesting characters, each with their own motivations, and the increasingly ridiculous scenarios that occur are all well established earlier on so it doesn't seem sudden or jarring.
And if nothing else, Alan Tudyk losing his mind as he deals with being drugged is amazing, and well worth the watch all on it's own.
Unless you're just crippled with anxiety about funerals, I expect that you'll enjoy this one very much.
Read full review
★ 8 / 10
a man's funeral turns into a three-ring circus
blanche-2
"Death at a Funeral" is a hilarious British black comedy from 2007 starring Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Dinklage, Jane Asher, Alan Tudyk, Kris Marshall, Rupert…
"Death at a Funeral" is a hilarious British black comedy from 2007 starring Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Dinklage, Jane Asher, Alan Tudyk, Kris Marshall, Rupert Graves, and Peter Vaughan.
A family gathers for the patriarch's funeral: his wife (Asher), his son Daniel (MacFadyen) and his wife Jane (Keely Hawes, MacFadyen's real-life wife), and his son Robert (Rupert Graves). Robert is a well-known author living in a New York City penthouse; Daniel and Jane have been looking after his parents but now are planning to get a flat further away. Daniel and Robert are supposed to split the cost of the funeral, but Robert claims to have no money because it's expensive to keep up his lifestyle. He also won't give the eulogy, though everyone who walks in asks him if he's going to. Meanwhile, Daniel practices a eulogy but never seems to get past, "My father was an exceptional man." Meanwhile, the funeral home has brought the wrong body and has to return to get the right one.
Daniel and Robert's cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is attending the funeral with her boyfriend Simon (Tudyk). When they go to pick up Troy (Marshall), Martha gives the nervous Simon what she thinks is a Valium. It's a hallucinogenic concocted by Troy, who is a pharmacy student. By the time they get to the wedding, Simon is acting strangely. Not as strangely as he would act later on, but strangely.
Daniel notices a dwarf (Dinklage) at the funeral; the man says he wants to speak with Daniel privately. His name is Peter.
That's all I'll say but the story becomes more and more bizarre and funny, including a hypochondriac with a discoloration on his wrist that he's sure is a dreaded disease, blackmail, nudity, a locked bathroom, and lots of other things.
Very, very entertaining with fine performances, no one going for laughs, just playing the characters. That's really the way to do it. One of my favorite parts occurs when Robert tries to dismiss the problems brought in by Peter, saying, "Oh, no one even noticed him." "No one noticed him?" Daniel asks. "He's 4'5!" A lovely ending puts the cap on this entertaining film.
Read full review
•••
Frigging Hilarious movie. British Subtlety at it's finest! This one is SOOO much funnier that the all Black one they stole 3 years later with Chris Rock! Sound is just fine!