It's Just Movies

— by ADAM POYNTER —

“Death at a Funeral” is a oddball comedy romp that takes place on the day an American family comes together to lay to rest a beloved father and husband. As bereaved family members gather together, distressing revelations, old arguments, inappropriate corpse misplacement, lingering resentments and blackmail release a rowdy (and loud) laughter in the theater.

Now you might be asking yourself, “Why does this movie sound familiar?” Well maybe it’s because in 2007 a British version of the film was released. In the re-make, the storyline is pretty much unaltered. Also, some of the same jokes are used in the new version, but the comedy style has been taken from a dry, English tone to a broader American standard.

Neil LaBute directs an all-star cast, which features: Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Luke Wilson and Tracy Morgan. They are the star players in the movie, but there also are funny performances from Lorretta Devine, Danny Glover, Peter Dinklage and Regina Hall.

I must say that this movie is pretty outrageous at times, but I still found myself relating to small parts of it. I would say the biggest laughs came from Marsden and his performance, and from a scene with Morgan and Glover. Rock and Lawrence do well as rival brothers, but they are more the catalysts for the jokes around them. I don’t want too give much away, but there are scenes that literally had the theater rolling in their seats with laughter, sometimes so much so that you missed the next few jokes. I’ll just say lookout for: public indecency, mini-jokes, bathroom humor and altered states of mind.

Go out and see “Death at a Funeral” — you may just end up dying from laughter.

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Follow Adam Poynter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CCWGGuy.