Review for Death at a Funeral

Death at a Funeral is based on Frank Oz's 2007 British film of the same name and it seems only through a labor of love Chris Rock has worked to bring this American remake to the screens. I should point out that I love Chris Rock, but only as a stand-up. As an actor/director, I haven't been too fond of Rock's work, but when I read the cast list of this film it looks almost like a who's who. The star power certainly brings some hope to the film and so with all this talent it has to be great. Right?

The basic plot is the funeral of the father of Aaron (Chris Rock) and Ryan (Martin Lawrence). Aaron is struggling to keep everything together, that includes his wife's persistent requests to have sex as she happens to be ovulating on that day. Ryan, though a successful writer, is selfish and has not helped towards the payment of the funeral. It is later revealed why he hasn't done that.

A number of family member and guests arrive including Elaine (Zoe Saldana who people may not recognize as Neytiri from Avatar) and her fiancé Oscar (James Marsden) who after being so nervous has been given what Elaine thought was valium but is actually an experimental hallucinogenic. His tripping out is a highlight of the film, though not the highlight of the film is Norman (Tracy Morgan) who is given the task of looking after Uncle Russell (Danny Glover), which leads to one of the most hilarious and disgusting moments I've seen since Mr Creosote exploded in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. During the funeral, a 'little person' Frank (Peter Dinklage) arrives and informs Aaron that he has been his father's lover and will show his mother pictures of this if he doesn't receive $30,000. This leads to a lot of problems for Aaron who must decide what to do for the good of the family.

I loved this film. Loved it. I hadn't seen the British version (though I may look to find it now), but I really enjoyed the film. The mix of all the stars both established and new was wonderful and the mix of comedy from farce to surreal worked so well with everyone on the top of their game. Rock gives a great central performance and though he was upstaged by Morgan in every scene he was in, he still held the film together and proved that he could make a good film.

Death at a Funeral is definitely a film you'll watch and be dying with laughter.