Death at a Funeral review

Here's my review of Death at a Funeral from the Irish Times...

Starring: Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Danny Glover, James Marsden, Luke Wilson and Peter Dinklage
Directed by Neil Labute
15A cert, 92 minutes, general release

As you might have already heard, Death at a Funeral is a remake of a reasonably amusing English film from 2007. The very notion of a remake is a damning indictment of Hollywood’s lack of originality. Also, Neil Labute, author and director of numerous plays and films about the perils of relationships, may not have been an ideal choice for a comedy farce with a dose of sentimentality. But leaving those considerations aside, does the film work in its own right? Well, not entirely.

Chris Rock takes the lead this time, heading a mostly black cast. As we meet Aaron (Rock), he’s en route to a funeral where he will bury his father. He’s about to face an eventful day: His selfish brother (Martin Lawrence) may not pay his half of the funeral costs; his aspiring drug-dealer cousin (Columbus Short) has accidentally intoxicated a funeral attendant (James Marsden) and perhaps worst of all, a mysterious stranger (Peter Dinklage) has blackmail in mind.

As you can see, Death at a Funeral 2.0 has a more-than competent cast. Rock is surprisingly effective in the relatively straight role, and his smart-aleck asides are among the film’s highlights. And Dinklage, the only actor from the original film to return, is in fine form.

But by moving the comedy State-side, they’ve jettisoned key ingredients in the original’s moderate success; the snobbery, reservation and embarrassment that often comprise British comedies. Without being about manners and class, the American version follows the bigger-is-funnier school of humour, with intrusive music and big performances. The end result has moments of brightness, but overall is a surprisingly flat combination of slapstick and schmaltz. Or to put it a more alliterative way, farce minus finesse feels forced.