Humor under a black veil

Death at a Funeral

Day 20

Film 17

This is going to be short, I have a clutch of movies I have been procrastinating on. so lets get to it.

Death at a Funeral was a film I wanted to see if only because Alan Tudyk (who plays characters that always seem to die) would not die in the film. I could go into the few films I have seen him in but I won't because I'll start ranting about how Joss Whedon is bad at his job.

Death at a Funeral was a short, mostly entertaining romp through a funeral where everything has gone wrong. It has the quirk of being British, losing some humor in translation and it is a little slow, but building up speed as it nears its conclusion. It is farcical in its nature throwing in almost unreal situations that blend together to create a frantic hilarity that was very hit and miss for me.

The plot is that of most funerals. There are grievers, but most of them do not really show it or do not care enough about the dead. The family is there, grown up and estranged. If you were to take out a couple pieces that the humor relies on (most importantly the drugs Tudyk's character consumes and the gay dwarf that appears from nowhere demanding money from the family) you would be left with a somber, and boring as tar, look at a funeral.

I liked Death at a Funeral, and although I know i did enjoy it I do feel that saying that is a little bit too much. Overall it was an enjoyable movie, but it felt like a very average movie. The humor was good, but it did not have the same punch as In the Loop did. Humor is just as good as it attempts to be. Death at a Funeral takes a look at funerals and the things that happen there, but I have only been to one funeral, and I was not paying too much attention. If I was an older man I would like to think that some of the humor would hit a bit harder. That is only speculation.

Death at a Funeral was a fun movie, entirely worth renting if you are a fan of British humor. It is not a must see.