Death at a Funeral [2007]

November 18, 2022

I just love black humor and the darker it is the better. And nothing beats a funeral when it comes to dark. Well, perhaps only death at a funeral but that’s the title of this fucking movie! Death at a Funeral is one of those well-crafted laugh-out-loud comedies that I can watch anytime. I must’ve watched it at least a dozen times and each time I had a lot of fun. It’s one of those movies that always puts me in a good mood despite the story and the setting. There are just so many quotable moments that I’m finding it difficult to single one out.

Perhaps “my father was an exceptional man” is the best one. Mostly because it shows just how effortlessly complex this movie is. Death at a Funeral features excellent character development that’s so good we can all recognize some parts of ourselves in these characters. And it’s not just a movie about death but also about family, love, relationships, and drugs. I mean, the world would be a lot shittier place if there weren’t drugs. And since it’s one of the rare comedies with a perfect 10 rating on this site you know what else it features?

You guessed it, a shitting scene! It’s a simple rule, all the best comedies have shitting scenes and this one is a hoot. And as in all great comedies and movies in general, all the stars aligned meaning not only the script, cinematography, direction, and everything else is great but so is the cast. Alan Tudyk easily stole the show as drugged-out Simon but we shouldn’t forget about Matthew Macfadyen or Rupert Graves. Macfadyen’s performance is even more hilarious now that we know him as Tom Wambsgans from Succession.

Today might be the saddest day in Daniel’s life. It’s the day of his father’s funeral and guests are slowly starting to arrive at his house. Both he and his wife Jane are hoping that this day will go at least smoothly and be over as quickly as possible. However, as soon as the casket containing his father’s body arrived, things started to go wrong. And they’re about to get much worse.

In fact, I could just keep listing the cast of this movie like Peter Dinklage and Peter Vaughan keep telling you why they were great but I won’t do that. I want you to play this movie as soon as possible. And I have to admit that I expected nothing less from Frank Oz, the man behind a lot of great regular comedies. So, do check out Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob? and Bowfinger if you would like more of the same.

As with all great movies, this one got a remake for no apparent reason. I mean, I can sort of understand why you would remake a French comedy like The Dinner Game but why would you remake an English-speaking comedy that came out like a couple of years ago? Starring Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence, the 2010 edition of Death at a Funeral is an unnecessary movie that will barely make you laugh. Especially if you know just how good the original is.

It’s easily one of the best dark comedies of the last twenty years. Right up there with In Bruges, Little Miss Sunshine and God Bless America. Finally, I just wanted to add that we have to make fun of death in order to live. At least a little fun, I mean, it’s not like we’re going to live forever so we should use our time here appropriately. And considering that the running time of Death at the Funeral is under ninety minutes, I think you know what to do.