Download Death at a Funeral (2007)

Death at a Funeral (2007)
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Direction:  Frank Oz
Cast: Matthew MacFadyen, Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, Daisy Donovan, Kris Marshall, Andy Nyman, Jane Asher, Keeley Hawes

The stiff British family reunites to morn their deceased patriarch. Deeply deploring the untimely death of the pure-minded kinsman, the members of the upper-crust family get shocked to learn about their father's little peccadilloes. A mysterious guest (Peter Dinklage) who tells them the deep, dark secrets is not about to keep his tongue between his teeth. But everyone has his price, and the blackmailer agrees to preserve the chariness of their reputation if he is paid a generous sum of money.


Download Death at a Funeral (2007)

Movie Review:

Death at a Funeral is about a guy who's put in charge of hosting his father's funeral while the rest of his extended family does their unintentional best to make the day a living a hell by feeding each other hits of extra-strength acid, taking care of angry old uncles in wheelchairs and figuring out how to avoid being blackmailed by a horny dwarf.

Now, some of you may have noticed that this synopsis is the same one I wrote up for the 2010 American remake that I reviewed yesterday (very astute of you). Well, that's because they're pretty much the exact same movie, only this time everyone's white and they all say "rubbish" instead of "garbage". In retrospect, I really should have watched this first before seeing the inferior remake, but that's where I'm at and, even so, I don't think I'll be losing sleep over it either.

So, yeah, the two movies pretty much mirror each other in every way thanks to a script by Dean Craig that more or less went untouched in translation from East to West. Maybe it's just me, but I find it pretty strange that he didn't change a damn thing from the plot to the dialogue outside of making it more accessible for us Yanks by making it about a black family from Los Angeles. Sure wish I knew that ahead of time so I could have mixed it up a bit instead of watching the same thing twice in two days, but then again, Craig just made himself some easy money and I'm pretty sure I'd do the same thing.

But nonetheless, there are a few noticeable differences that boosted this up from a 4 to a 6.

For starters, the cast is a lot better and they make the movie feel more natural instead of turning it into a spectacle of sorts. Maybe that kind of thing just comes naturally to those classy Brits, but they make it feel more like an actual family rather than a cast of characters, they add a lot more heart to the story and they simply makes things funnier.

Not surprisingly, the original Death at a Funeral is the one worth seeing over the remake, but I still wasn't bowled over by it and it still felt strangely awkward/forced at times. My gut instinct tells me to give this one a 5, but considering I kinda blew the experience for myself and that it does pick up quite a bit by the last half-hour, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt this time around.