Death at a Funeral

in 2007 a British movie came out called Death at a Funeral. It was a well received comedy and in my circle of movie friends, it was called one of the best comedies of that year. I saw it and was incredibly underwhelmed. Apparently, someone thought all the movie needed was an African-American cast and BAM! comic gold. So, in 2010 we have an American remake, with African American actors being directed by the once interesting Neil LaBute. To be perfectly honest, there would have never been a way I would have seen this if I had had to pay for it. I love Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence and think this cast could make a fantastic movie, but this did not look like it was going to be that movie. Also, the original screenwriter came back, just armed with a lot more F-bombs. Not sure why that is, but I guess he wanted to keep his point of view, just adding a splash of color.

Many families only ever get together for a funeral and this is one of those families. Aaron(Rock) is the eldest son and the responsible and he has been in charge of his father's funeral. He is an uptight, hard working man who is constantly overlooked because his younger brother, Ryan(Lawrence) is a successful writer and his much more charismatic. Ryan is flighty and he and Aaron do not see eye to eye. The funeral has all kinds of crazy things that happen including, but not limited to, the boyfriend(James Marsden) of a niece(Zoe Saldana) accidentally taking some acid laced acid and going all kinds of crazy, a cranky uncle pooing on someones hand and face, and the main thing, a white midget(Peter Dinklage) trying to extort money to not show pictures of him and the dead father engaging in some gay sex. You also have Luke Wilson's fat scary face as a family friend who wants to make Zoe Saldana his girlfriend, even though they only had one night of drunken sex and she does not want him.

In what amounts to a pretty straight remake, Death at a Funeral offers some laughs, but it does not do anything in my mind to make me understand why it was made. Rock, Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Dinklage, Danny Glover, Marsden and Colombus Short are all capable of being together in a great movie, but this is not it. Rock is not much of an actor, but he can be hilarious when you let him out of the box, but here he is handcuffed in a role that requires him to act too much. Lawrence is less handcuffed, but his role just is not very funny. I saw the movie on Friday night and it is Monday and I am struggling to remember anything funny the guy said. Tracy Morgan is his usual on and off self. He can say some seriously funny stuff, but he can also miss big time and this movie is no different for him.

the slapstick is where the comedy actually works. I liked Marsden, even if it comes off a little too over the top, but his drug induced antics are certainly the highlight of the movie. He commits wholeheartedly to the role and it shows. The stuff with Dinklage is pretty funny because Dinklage is another guy who just commits to the movie. He is reprising his role from the original and it seems funnier here. I am not sure if it is the fact that the family is black this time around, but it might be. When he goes into his drugged out shtick, it works pretty well, because Dinklage always looks so distinguished and to see him jumping around licking things is funny.

There is nothing in this movie that is very original, but it was an alright distraction. When it was over, I was already forgetting things that happened. Zoe Saldana and Colombus Short are totally wasted and that bothers me because I believe Short has some serious talent and I guess I have to hope The Losers makes him a more bankable star. I am not sure why this movie exists, or why Neil LaBute agreed to direct it since there is nothing particularly interesting in the script or on the screen. I will say this though, Peter Dinklage on screen is always a good thing, so any time there is a movie role for him, I am ultimately okay with it.

Final Grade: C-