Death at a Funeral

When a family patriarch dies, his trustworthy son, Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen), is stuck with overseeing his funeral, delivering his eulogy, and keeping tabs on his dysfunctional family in an attempt to keep the day respectful at the very least. His brother, Robert (Rupert Graves), a famous writer, offers no assistance at all and serves only to dismay the attendees who’d hoped he’d deliver his father’s eulogy given that he’s the accomplished writer in the family. Bickering, bantering, shenanigans and all kinds of little mishaps transpire before a mysterious stranger emerges (Peter Dinklage) to drop a major bombshell on Daniel about the true character of his dearly beloved pa. Things turn from bad to worse. Hilarity ensues (well, sort of). And, of course, it all comes down to one schmaltzy motivational speech about how nobody’s perfect.

With Death at a Funeral, director Frank Oz bounces back modestly form his catastrophic, sideways reinterpretation of The Stepford Wives. Unfortunately, while it's a far less strikingly egregious film, Funeral is not all that much more enjoyable. It’s watchable, but wholly unspectacular. The setup is broad enough to be a serviceable, all encompassing introduction to all things hooey. The gimmicks are light and familiar enough to elicit chuckles but nothing nearing uproarious laughter. It’s sinfully complacent and worthy of no real praise other than to say that despite the banality, it is competently executed.

The uniformly decent but completely forgettable cast do nothing extra to raise the film beyond a meandering little trifle of a dark comedy. The only real standout here is Alan Tudyk as a tripping on hallucinogens future son-in-law to the family who spends most of the film staring at his hands and disturbing the peace in increasingly outrageous ways.

Grade: C