Death at a Funeral

A comedy is allowed to be a bit more simplistic due to its prime focus being to make someone laugh above anything else, but this doesn’t mean that all of them are mindless. If anything, some of the strongest comedies have a lot going on under the surface and hide their intellect underneath a goofy facade in order to appeal to all audiences, and while comedies that focus on physicality and slapstick are important and respectable in their own right, a sharp tongue and effective wordplay can be just as enthralling if done well. The 2007 black comedy, Death at a Funeral, had all the chances to succeed on both angles, but sadly didn’t succeed at either.

After the passing of his father, Daniel (played by Matthew Macfadyen) is preparing the funeral along with his wife, Jane (played by Keeley Hawes) and is waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. Amongst the mourners include Daniel’s younger brother, Robert (played by Rupert Graves),  a renowned author who Daniel always feels in the shadow of, their mother, Sandra (played by Jane Asher), Daniel’s cousins,  Martha and Troy (played by Daisy Donovan and Kris Marshall) along with her fiancé, Simon (played by Alan Tudyk), his elderly uncle’s Victor and Alfie (played by Peter Egan and Peter Vaughn), and family friend Howard (played by Andy Nyman) and his tag-along, Justin (played by Ewan Bremmer), all of whom have their own issues that they’re bringing to this already stressful gathering. To make matters worse, an American named Peter (played by Peter Dinklage) informs Daniel that he was in fact his father’s lover and is threatening to use incriminating photos of their interactions unless he gets a portion of his will money. After things escalate to the point of tying him up and seemingly killing him, Daniel and his brother will have to find a way to resolve this conflict without the secret getting out, with chaos only continuing to erupt from the oblivious guests.

Death at a Funeral managed to perform solidly at the box office with an equally solid critical reception, and this response honestly feels fitting, as while not a great movie and not really taking advantage of its potential, it’s able to survive most of its obvious shortcomings by providing enough of a goofy experience to make it at least worth a watch.

The premise feels like it would work wonders for a dark comedy, with a group of jittery individuals coming together for a funeral that falls into madness as problems arise one after the other only to explode once the pleasantries are removed and all that’s left is unbridled honesty. It could be told in a wildly goofy manner and would have room for a ton of uncomfortably morbid possibilities which would’ve added an appreciated edge against its sillier presentation, but it never quite goes in that direction. The film is kept to a brisk 90 mins, so it’s aware that it can’t (and shouldn’t) overstay its welcome, and the stressed out attitude of the people, the frantic energy of the situation and the overall personality of the film reflects this mentality by keeping things delightfully immature in a way that makes some of its over-the-top qualities a little more acceptable, without floundering into total annoyance. A lot of this feels like its due to the directing by Frank Oz, who is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and The Muppets but has also dabbled in directing outside of that space with a lot of gems like the 1986 version of Little Shop of Horrors and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. While his movies can range in terms of quality, his understanding of comedy and manner of leading a tone definitely feels like it plays a part in influencing this film for the better, as the atmosphere and even the scenario feels very akin to something The Muppets would think up and take part in, mainly the notion of hosting a gathered event and trying to retain control of a situation once it starts to get out of hand.

It feels like quite an ingenious recipe and actually could’ve pushed even further than what The Muppets could get away with in regard to language and graphic content and provided its own kind of voice while still retaining the identifiable quirkiness,  but what this movie lacks against something like The Muppets is the very likeable and iconic characters and very smart witty writing that brought those roles and their conflicts to life in such a distinct and unforgettable way. The screenplay written by Dean Craig is just not very good at fleshing out this idea beyond its base note and keeps things annoyingly simplistic despite there being room to at least flourish up some of the surrounding elements. The plot lines are brief but quite generic as well, most of the characters are pretty blanket and don’t exhibit much personality (and if they do, they’re kind of annoying), the humor isn’t that smart or provides anything memorable outside of presenting something crude, crazy or even creepy, there’s no real creative spark to the comedy or drama so nothing ever feels that memorable or special, and even though the short length is appreciated, it just makes the shallow script more apparent.

The characters are also an element as to why this film isn’t as funny or engaging as it could’ve been, because good humor can either come through a sense of identifiable stress or pain, or a strong sense of character pushing forward their traits in a relatable manner, and while there is definitely pain aplenty, none of the people are that interesting or identifiable outside of one-note roles and tropes. It’s even hard to determine the relation between half of them despite being about coming together as friends and family to mourn a loss, and because of this disconnect, it’s really hard to invest in pretty much anybody. The only one that has a semblance of character and an arc to overcome is the lead played by Matthew Macfadyen, who at least has the jealousy of his more successful brother, the stress of handling this funeral, as dealing with everybody else’s doubt in his abilities, which makes his pain feel a little bit more understandable (becoming the Kermit of this situation to retread that Muppet connection). Macfadyen is pretty good at capturing this and despite not having a lot to work with, does do a nice enough job keeping this film together, as do most of the other actors to their credit even if they mostly just shout-whisper back and forth at each other. While they rarely if ever have anything funny to say, their manner of performing matches the sillier tone the film is going for and are just composed enough to not feel demeaning or childish.

Rupert Graves is pretty decent as Daniels’ brother and also comes close to having something of an arc with him moving past his selfish living standards, but it isn’t delved into enough to really be a big deal, People like Andy Nyman, Kris Marshall and Daisy Donovan are honestly pretty good, but their roles are so one-note that it’s hard to fully get behind them, people like Jane Asher, Peter Egan, Peter Vaughan and even Thomas Wheatley as the Reverend don’t get much to do outside of one-off scenes but use their time well enough, Alan Tudyk continues to prove that he is more of a capable voice actor than a good on-screen actor, yet his limit screen time and solely physical performance means he doesn’t have that much time to be annoying, and people like Ewen Bremmer and even Peter Dinklage have made this movie not age the best with stories and focuses that feel pretty invasive and even stereotypical.

From a production value, the film feels pretty cheap and small in scale, which is a bit understandable given the minute concept. The film only cost about $9 million to make and with no big names attached outside of the director, there wouldn’t have been any need for anything drastic from a budgetary standpoint and you can feel from the sets, the production and even most of the shots done by director of photography, Oliver Curtis, that it isn’t presented in a way that allows for much creativity from a film-making standpoint. The house is a nice enough location to be in for a whole movie but doesn’t feature anything that memorable, the cinematography isn’t bad but isn’t strong enough to be eye-catching either, and even though the film is able to convey its hyperactive energy and silliness through the performances and directing, nothing else about the film screams that outside of its opening credit scene (which is cute, but nothing that special).

The only other element that helps breath a bit more personality into the film is the musical score composed by Murray Gold, who used his talents previously to create most of the music for the hit British TV series, Doctor Who, so this is clearly a talented composer they have at their disposal. The score does inject that sense of liveliness a movie so stagnant and even stale in its comedy and characters so desperately needs, helping the situation feel more awake and active, a little off-balance and even a little quaintly unique through the use of its instrumentation, but it’s also sparingly used as to never overstay its welcome or become too obnoxious. It’s not a hugely memorable part of the film or enough to fix its shortcoming, but it would be all the worser if it wasn’t featured.

Death at a Funeral clearly had some kind of draw over people, and this isn’t just proven by its stable box office and reception, but also because it was remade a decent chunk of times after its release (which included an American version starring people like Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, and Martin Lawrence). Whether this was because of people’s actual enjoyment of the movie itself, or just because they liked the idea and wanted to see it done better is hard to pin down, but it proves people were drawn to it in some way, and while this movie doesn’t execute it terribly, it’s not delivered in such a way that could make that intrigue feel warranted. With colorful direction, capable actors and a premise with potential holding it together, this movie is weighed down by a very ineffective script and sloppily handled characters, keeping it as a painfully mediocre comedic escapade that contains about as much dead air as the funeral that it’s displaying. While other comedies have been able to produce something above what it shows on the surface, this one is unfortunately as apparent as could be.