Death at a Funeral (2007, USA)
Release Date: 11 July 2007 (Belgium)
Genres: Comedy | Drama
Actors: Matthew MacFadyen, Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, Daisy Donovan, Kris Marshall, Andy Nyman, Jane Asher, Keeley Hawes, Peter Vaughan, Ewen Bremner, Peter Dinklage, Thomas Wheatley, Peter Egan, Jeremy Booth, Gareth Milne
Directors: Frank Oz
Awards: 2 wins
Country: USA
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Death at a Funeral is a 2007 black comedy film directed by Frank Oz and written by Dean Craig.
Daniel is a decent young man, married to Jane, still living at his father’s home. When his father dies, it his up to him to organize his funeral. On this painful morning, the suitable grave expression on his face, Daniel is ready to welcome his father’s friends and relatives. But preserving the dignity inherent in such a circumstance will be a hard task. Particularly with an undertaker who botches his work, the return from the USA from his famous but selfish brother, his cousin’s fiancé who has accidentally ingested drugs, the presence a moron who takes advantage of the sad event to win back the heart (or rather the body) of a woman who is about to marry another, of a handicapped old uncle who is also the most unbearable pain in the neck. To cap it all, Daniel notices the presence among the mourners of a mysterious dwarf nobody else seems to know…
The film opens with Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) waiting for the undertaker to bring his father’s casket to his parents’ house for the funeral. They open the casket for him to look, and he states that this man is not his father. They grabbed the wrong coffin. He watches, shocked and disgusted, as they scurry away with the stranger to go retrieve the right casket.
Daniel tells his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), about what happened, and frets over his prepared eulogy, stating that it is not good enough. Jane assures him that it is fine before changing the subject, wanting to know if he put a deposit on a flat they want so they can finally move out of his parents house, as she doesn’t get along with his mother, Sandra (Jane Asher). Daniel just brushes her off.
On the way to the funeral is Daniel’s friend, Howard (Andy Nyman), a hypochondriac who is constantly fretting over a small patch of skin discoloration, thinking it to be fatal. He is traveling along with Uncle Alfie, a foul-mouthed, handicapped old man, and his own friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is only coming to the funeral to meet with his one night stand, Martha (Daisy Donovan). Martha is also the deceased’s niece, and she is bringing along her fiance Simon (Alan Tudyk), who is very nervous about meeting with Martha’s father, who dislikes him for no particular reason.
On the way they pick up her brother, Troy (Kris Marshall), who’s studying to be a pharmacist and making illegal drugs on the side. He is making his latest batch (a mixture of acid, mescaline and ketamine) to drop off after the funeral, claiming to the customer on the phone that they are extremely potent. When his sister and Simon arrive, he hides them in a Valium bottle and leaves to get dressed. Simon is still stressed out, so Martha gives him a pill from the Valium bottle, not knowing that it is the designer drug mixture.
Tags: black comedy, Frank Oz
Posted in Comedy, Drama |
