NEW Death At A Funeral (2010) (DVD)

Aaron is a well-mannered and hard working young man, married to Michelle, and still living at his father's home. When his father dies, it is up to Aaron, the oldest son, to organize the funeral and give the eulogy. The funeral takes place in his father's home and Aaron tries to put on an appropriate expression on his face to welcome his relatives, including his famous writer brother Ryan and his father's friends. But preserving a civil atmosphere will be a hard thing to do, especially, when from the very start, the undertaker makes a horrifying mistake.

This movie has almost a scene-by-scene remake of a 2007 British movie with the same title, I think it's funnier than the original, it's due in large part to the strong cast and screenplay that makes this movie funny. Overall, "Death at a Funeral" is an excellent movie that is well worth watching if you want to have a laugh or a ton of laughs.

Are you kidding me?!

I caught this flick at a friend's house (read not by choice) and when I saw Peter Dinklage reprising the very same roll of Peter from the original Frank Oz production of 2007 I asked my friend to turn it off. This film is a complete exercise of futility.

The art of the ensemble is something Frank Oz handles with deft hands. Oz understands the importance of chemistry and timing in comedy - subtlety. Three years later and Sony releases a near `frame by frame' remake that exemplifies all that can go wrong in an ensemble work. No matter how talented a cast - a director (Neil LaBute) should facilitate a comedic ensemble by stressing underplay and nuance. In this remake LaBute looses or exercises little control and we end up with a one-upmanship mash up that is simply not funny. I was actually surprised that this was a LaBute film as he has a strong talent for controlling and facilitating the emotion in an actor's performance (I had the opportunity to see Sigourney Weaver in "The Mercy Seat" a devastatingly rich performance that highlights his skill as a performance driven director).

Bottom line is this film made me angry. I was angry that Sony, Labute, and Dean Craig (the writer on both versions of this film) felt it was necessary to rework the property into a dumb downed in your face version for an American audience.

My friends and I did watch the remainder of the Labute version and subsequently the Oz version - all prefer the Oz version if for nothing else than it is a genuinely funny and entertaining ensemble comedy.

I feel Labute should stay away from re-visioning films that work in their original state - as "The Whicker Man" and this death are potential career lowlights.

I give this film one star for the tremendously talented and funny cast whose directed performance was the true death at this funeral of a film.

So, I did not watch the British version of this movie before watching this one; that being said, I thought this movie was laugh out loud hilarious! This movie was perfectly casted with some big names and excellent actors who brought the script to life. In my opinion, Tracy Morgan (ala 30 Rock) steals the #1 spot of funniest character, with James Marsden (ala X-Men trilogy) in a close second, and the crazy uncle played by Danny Glover in third. I don't really understand why people have rated this movie so badly, other than that maybe the British one is better. All comparisons aside, this is a well-written and well-acted comedy, unlike most these days, and is worth watching. RECOMMEND