Funerals are normally solemn occasions, filled with a combination of grief for the death of a loved one, joy at their passing into a “better place” in the afterlife, and fond remembrances of what the deceased meant to each of those in attendance. But for the family at the heart of the wildly funny new comedy “Death at a Funeral,” there’s no such luck for a dignified event.
First, the body in the casket is an Asian man, and the family are an enormous African-American clan. Once they fix the little problem of having the wrong body delivered to their house, they still have to contend with the lifelong feud between brothers played by Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock, as well as the nasty attitude Rock’s mom gives Rock’s wife for not producing a grandchild fast enough.
Add in two Caucasian beaus fighting for the attention of Rock’s cousin (Zoe Saldana) – one (Luke Wilson) who’s a straight-arrow beloved by her father (Ron Glass) and the other an irresponsible goofball rendered helpless for the event by an accidental dose of psychedelic drugs (James Marsden, in a stunningly funny performance that should make him the next Jim Carrey).
Mix in Danny Glover in a hilarious against-type performance as a viciously cantankerous uncle who’s constantly abusing family friend Tracy Morgan between moments of elderly befuddlement, and Peter Dinklage as a mysterious, vertically-challenged man who has a shocking secret about the deceased father, and you still don’t have half the wickedly funny and inventive plotlines that make up the script by Dean Craig, who adapted “Death” from his own screenplay for the 2007 British art-house hit of the same name.
While the original “Death” was directed by American farce master Frank Oz (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”), the new film is directed by Neil Labute (“In the Company of Men,” “Lakeview Terrace”) – a filmmaker and stage-play wizard whose prior works mined the darkest depths of the human soul. He might seem like an odd choice for directing a comedy, but the core action of “Death” takes place amid the many rooms of a large house, creating a stagebound effect that Labute mines well for the frequent door-opening and slamming interruptions that are key to this kind of farce.
Labute’s rich background helps keeps the fast-paced events from spinning out of control while also grounding the performances just enough that everybody in the cast gets moments to shine without feeling shoehorned into the mix. Rock and Morgan have long-term ensemble experience from their respective terms on “Saturday Night Live,” but Lawrence also proves he learned to control his usual showboating while part of the winning ensemble smash hit “Wild Hogs” in 2007.
For those wondering if the notoriously foul-mouthed duo of Rock and Lawrence turn “Funeral” into a potty-mouthed parade of F-bombs, the surprise answer is that the film is actually pretty mild for an R. Labute wanted to keep the film from devolving into extreme raunchiness but also realized that if the cast were bound to producing a PG13 result, their frequent improvisations would suffer as a result.
All in all, “Funeral” is a welcome surprise, serving as the first film to truly show Chris Rock can be as funny on film as he is on the standup stage. While the film may be marketed as the tale of “one sad family,” this is another in a string of solid spring comedies that will ensure audiences will be laughing heartily throughout.
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