Review: Death at a Funeral (2007)

Death at a Funeral

Rating

Director

Frank Oz

Screenplay

Dean Craig

Length

1h 30m

Starring

Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, Andy Nyman, Ewen Bremner, Daisy Donovan, Alan Tudyk, Jane Asher, Kris Marshall, Rupert Graves, Peter Vaughan, Thomas Wheatley, Peter Egan, Peter Dinklage, Brenan O’Hea, Jeremy Booth, Angela Curran, Gareth Milne

MPAA Rating

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Review

Although the British comedy had faded in prominence at the box office, they were still being made to a delightful degree into the 2000s. Death at a Funeral proved the genre still had something left to give.

A dysfunctional British family have gathered for the funeral of their beloved patriarch. His sons squabble over the cost of the funeral while other relations combat unwanted emotional advances, dislike of suitors, and a dwarf with a secret. Matthew MacFadyen leads a cast of largely British comic thespians as son Daniel who’s been saddled with caring for his parents while his brother (Rupert Graves) has become a successful novelist and flitted away his money recklessly. MacFadyen’s wife Jane (Keeley Hawes) frets about the down payment they plan to make on a flat while various other characters drift into the drama.

There’s kidnapping, extortion, attempted murder, threat of suicide, accidental drug use, and various other bizarre events that pepper the witty screenplay from Dean Craig. Death at a Funeral has a mediocre moral at his conclusion, but the intervening situations are downright hysterical. While the excellent cast is largely made up of notable British thespians, American actors Alan Tudyk (Firefly) and Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) join them and everyone is superbly entertaining.

It’s unfortunate that legendary voice-over artist Frank Oz has directed so few films. His movies always have a delightful sense of perspective and remain entertaining in spite of flaws in the scripts. Even saying that, Oz is merely a journeyman director with a decent eye for comedic performances but no gift for cinematic form. Thankfully, Death at a Funeral is one of his best films, reminding of the comic style he used in In & Out, crafting a lovable group of characters with serious flaws who face odd challenges that only strengthen them by the film’s end. Were he to make more movies like Funeral, In & Out, and Little Shop of Horrors, his oeuvre would be far more enticing.

Death at a Funeral features terrific actors with strong comedic timing given strong material to work with and turning it into an engaging and hilarious ensemble piece that reminds favorably of Four Weddings and a Funeral but without the weddings. Audiences are likely to forgive the mediocrity of the conclusion because of all the fun they had getting there. MacFadyen, Dinklage, and Tudyk are predictably great but Graves, Hawes, and the others are wonderful support. It’s well worth the time if only to have a good laugh.