Death at a Funeral

Taking direct inspiration from a 2007 British comedy with the same title, Death at a Funeral may just be the most pointless Hollywood remake since Gus Van Sant's infamous shot-for-shot update of Psycho. It slavishly follows the plot and gags of the original film, but still somehow manages to miss the point. The original had a sort of manic energy that this one lacks. It's leaden, it's overblown, and it's nowhere near as fun as it was the first time around.

Maybe it's the director at the helm of the remake. The director is Neil LaBute, a playwright and filmmaker who was once known for edgy, independent dramas, but has in recent years been known for bombastic and silly ones, like the infamous remake of The Wicker Man and Lakeview Terrace. He certainly seems to be trying here, but his style of directing is all wrong for a farce such as this. It's not fast-paced enough, and is sluggish when it should be light and hilarious. He also has an annoying habit of having the actors constantly act silly, as if they know they're in a comedy. One of the joys of the original is that the characters seemed to be normal, everyday people who watched in horror as the situation spiraled out of control. Here, the cast includes names like Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, and Tracy Morgan. They're constantly mugging for the camera, giving exaggerated line readings and bugging their eyes, and always seem to be playing for the camera. This movie works better when the actors act like they're not in on the joke.

A good example of how this remake misses the point of what made the original funny is the very first scene. Rock's character, Aaron, has the unenviable task of having to hold his father's funeral at their family home. The funeral home delivers the casket and opens it, only for Aaron to discover that it's not his dad inside. They have delivered the wrong casket, and lost his father somewhere. In the original film, it was funny because it was understated, and the character seemed justifiably horrified in a comic way. Here, Rock immediately goes into what seems to be an improvised stand-up routine, making cracks like "This isn't Burger King, you just can't mess up my order!" A person in such a situation would not be trying to think of clever things to say, so it sounds phony and artificial. It's a bad sign of things to come. In fact, Rock seems miscast as the character. He's constantly landing one-liners and comebacks, when he should be feeling like he's getting in over his head as the funeral service gets out of his control. The laughs should come from the situations, not from the actors constantly reminding us we're supposed to be laughing.

There are actually a lot of casting misfires here. Martin Lawrence plays Rock's brother, Ryan. He's a playboy and a published author, which is a source of constant irritation to Aaron, since he's working on a novel himself, but can't get it published. He's supposed to be cocky and arrogant, but Lawrence takes it a bit too far to the point that I hated his character whenever he walked on the screen. The relationship between the brothers is supposed to drive a lot of the plot, but because I didn't care for one and absolutely hated the other, I found it hard to care. Other examples of wasted casting include Luke Wilson (who is completely unfunny as a former suitor of a woman attending the funeral, and is trying to win her back), Keith David as the preacher, Loretta Devine as the grieving mother, and surprisingly Peter Dinklage, as a mysterious man who shows up at the funeral, and has a history with the deceased. I say surprisingly, since Dinklage played the exact same role in the original film, but doesn't get nearly as many laughs here.

Some may complain that I'm comparing it too much to the original, and that I should view it as its own work. The problem is that the movie keeps on forcing those who have seen the 2007 film to compare it, as it's literally the same film we got last time, only not as good. This is most likely due to the fact that both versions share the same screenwriter. There have been a few cultural things added, since this version is set in L.A. instead of England, but otherwise it's basically 90 minutes of warmed-over cinematic leftovers. The one performance that does come close to capturing the madcap spirit of the original is from James Marsden, who plays the fiance of one of the attendees of the funeral. He gets the biggest laughs when his character takes some hallucinogen drugs (he mistakes them for Valium pills), and spends the entire funeral service high as a kite. It's an inspired bit of lunacy, but isn't enough to lift up this leaden retread.

I'm still trying to figure out just who the audience is for a Death at a Funeral remake. The original didn't exactly win over many people, made around $8 million its entire theatrical run, and was quickly forgotten, except for those like myself who discovered it on DVD. Those who hated the original will hate this one as well, and those who are fond of it would be better off staying home and watching it. This is a pointless remake of a movie that, while funny, didn't need to be remade in the first place.

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