Death At a Funeral [M]

Death is never something that is easy to deal with, but for Daniel, it’s an absolute nightmare. With his father recently deceased, his mother in shock, and his arrogant brother out of the country, it falls upon Daniel to give his father a dignified send-off and bring the entire, dysfunctional family together to grieve. When a strange man shows up at the funeral, threatening to reveal shocking secrets about their father unless he gets some money, Daniel and his brother Robert are really put under pressure to deal with the blackmailer without any truths being leaked to the guests. And whilst they are at it, the funeral ceremony erupts into complete chaos. 

Directed by Frank Oz, Death At a Funeral is a wonderful, side-splittingly hysterical, good, old-fashioned British comedy! Like The Birdcage and Little Miss Sunshine, it’s a wonderful dish of that classic element in comedy: having just one simple thing to get through and everything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong. I went and saw this in the cinemas with my family and we were in complete hysteric tatters the entire way through! IT’S BLOODY BRILLIANT! 

Death is never something that is easy to deal with, but for Daniel, it’s an absolute nightmare. With his father recently deceased, his mother in shock, and his arrogant brother out of the country, it falls upon Daniel to give his old man a dignified send-off and bring the entire dysfunctional family together to grieve. When a strange man arrives at the funeral and threatens to reveal shocking secrets about their father unless he gets cash, Daniel and his brother Robert are really put under pressure to deal with the blackmailer without letting any shocking truths leak out to the guests. And whilst they are attempting to deal with this, the entire funeral ceremony erupts into complete chaos. 

I have said it before, time and time over, and I will say it again: THE BRITISH CAN DO COMEDY! I realise that the film is actually directed by an American, the genius Frank Oz, but he filmed it so that it was like a good, old-fashioned British comedy. I cannot stress the brilliancy of that enough. From the moment the funeral men turn up with the wrong coffin, the entire film is just a whirlwind of weird and wonderful scenarios and memorable, memorable characters and performances. 

Death At a Funeral harbours every ingredient that makes a great comedy, not a good comedy, a great comedy. We have anything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong, misunderstandings, and brilliant examples of the Ripple Effect: a whole bunch of epically horrible things are begun by a simple mishap that could happen to anyone. And even some of the more crude and cringe-worthy humour is done tastefully and dripping with sharp wit. THE ENTIRE THING IS JUST ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! 

With just brilliant performances from Matthew MacFayden, Keely Hawes, Andy Nyman, Ewen Bremner, Daisy Donovan, Alan Tudyk, Jane Asher, Kris Marshall, Rupert Graves, Peter Vaughn, Peter Egan, and Peter Dinklage, Death At a Funeral is a classic example of British comedy at its best, filled with drama, suspense, misunderstandings, weird scenarios, and heart. 

Seriously, if you want a proper and more sophisticated laugh, get down to your local Blockbuster and get yourself a copy of Death At a Funeral because it is BLOODY BRILLIANT!