Death at a Funeral

Even though I love spoilers, I hate them for comedies and thank god I had not known basically... anything about this movie before I saw it. I had heard about it on Aint It Cool News and had watched one trailer. Mainly, I was sold to go see just because Frank Oz freakin' kicks ass, but after his "Stepford Wives" remake I was wondering if he could back pedal to his great off-beat comedies again.

And boy did he. In a big way. This movie will have you laughing from the opening credits until the image of the film. It is a hilarious little England-set comedy.

I can't really explain the plot here because there really isn't one. This is an ensemble character movie. Basically, Daniel (Matthew Macfayden) is trying to have a nice funeral for his older brother and things just keep getting worse and worse and worse. That is all I would ever want to tell you because that is about all I knew. Well, I knew phrases about two big gags, but they don't give it a way: "A disgusting picture involving a midget" and "An LSD trip."

This movie has a great cast of people that I was not familiar with before except for three people, one of which is the person who steals every single scene he is in. Matthew Macfayden plays the son of the father who the funeral is for. He is planning on moving out with his wife, and he is trying to write a book. He is the straight man of the movie and he works very well. Bad shit just keeps getting piled on him as the events unfold and shit hits the fan. Peter Dinklage plays the midget in the movie, as mentioned above, and he is damn funny. He is coldly manipulative and insulting and he is hilarious. Rupert Graves plays Daniel's brother, Robert. He is a great writer, but he is also selfish and stuck up. Pretty much, everyone does a fine job of bringing their character to life and they all have very funny moments. There is one man though, one man that takes the entire movie and runs with his scenes making you constantly wanting to see him again and that is Alan Tudyk as Simon. You see, Simon thought he took a valium for a headache which ended up to actually be acid and for the rest of the funeral, he is tripping balls. I won't say what he does but damn... it is funny. I do really like this guy in the stuff I've seen him in (Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball, the E! executive in Knocked Up and a doctor in 3:10 to Yuma) and I want to see him in more.

Frank Oz has got it back. After a little slip up with "The Steppford Wives" he has returned to the movies he rocks at making. This movie reminds me the most of "What About Bob?" out of his films, but with the British accents everything seem refreshing and new. I cannot wait to see Oz's next movie.

This movie was really hilarious and owns the rights as the 2nd movie to make me fall out of my seat. I won't tell you when, just go see the damn movie. It is playing at the Varsity as we speak so go!