Death at a Funeral (2010)

Reviews are being over critical. Was entertaining and a good laugh. Would have gotten better reviews if not a remake. I liked both but have to give the nod to the first one as the original.

A family reunion at a father's funeral is going to turn very nasty as everyone holds a secret who's unveiling will leave deep marks on the others.It's a comedy which besides having a good idea and being very funny provides nothing else than a big disappointment. You see, everything has its limits and when you break them (especially as often as this movie does) you end up with a cavalcade of awkward, stupid and unnecessary situations. It starts very promising and funny but that's about it, degenerating rapidly into scenes and characters which shouldn't have been there, all ending up as exaggerated as it can be. I really was expecting more but hey, there's always a better movie waiting to be seen.

3 years after the solid Death at a Funeral, an entertaining British comedy, for some reason it was remade in America with the same screenwriter, the same jokes, the same characters and even the same actor playing the dwarf. The tale of bizarre revelations and utter chaos at a funeral was made for British humour without a doubt. The jokes and characters are Americanized here and it doesn't work at all. The performances are fine and Peter Dinklage is still excellent in his role, but this remake is not only incredibly lazy and far too faithful, it's also exhausting and gets the tone completely wrong and while it's occasionally amusing, it's a lot less funny than the original. The film could have worked with different jokes and the decision to copy every single gag from the original makes this a very irritating viewing experience. It's not very funny in the end and although the cast assembled is pretty impressive, they're all miscast since the script and story-line don't really suit them. This is how not to do a remake, and since this was only 3 years after the first one it's honestly difficult to see why this even got made.4/10

Death at a funeral is a movie directed by Neil Labute and was released on April 16, 2010. This film has a 5.4 star rating out of 6 stars and took place at the widows house to host a funeral for her husband. The film was shot in Los Angeles, California and it took about 21 million dollars to produce this movie. Starring in this film is Chris Rock, Regina Hall, James Marsden, Tracy Morgan, Peter Dinklage and Martin Lawrence. These main characters make this movie a fun filled comedy. In the beginning of the movie there is a funeral hosted for the father of Aaron (Chris Rock) and Ryan (Martin Lawrence). Aaron is the oldest son who lives in his parents house with his wife Michelle (Regina Hall). They have been trying to have children for a while but have been unsuccessful. Ryan, Aaron's younger brother is a successful writer that Aaron envies because his books are not published but his brothers are. Their cousin Elaine (Zoe Saldana) and her fiancé Oscar (James Marsden) go to pick up Elaine's brother Jeff (Columbus Short). Oscars nerves overcome him and Elaine gives Oscar what looks like Valium but is a hallucinogenic drug that Elaine's brother made for a friend. Throughout the movie Jeff tells Elaine that it is not Valium. A friend of their fathers, Frank (Peter Dinklage) shows up at the funeral claiming to know a big secret about him and their father. While encountering the fathers past everyone faces conflicts throughout the movie until the big secret is revealed. To keep the secret he wants 30,000 dollars or he will reveal the secret to everyone. Frank is force fed the same Valium Oscar has taken and the conflicts are not solved until the very end. Aaron finally gets to say his eulogy to finish the funeral. From the movie, I believe acting is a great way to express yourself. Aaron (Chris Rock) is a very good actor. He makes the scenes come alive and he is very loud so it keeps the viewers intrigued in the movie. For example, when he wanted everyones attention to read the eulogy he wasn't shy to speak up, he made sure people heard him and they were listening. Another actor who is very talented is Norman(Tracy Morgan). This man acts like a goof and makes the movie funny because of all the silly things he says and the way his facial expressions match with his words. For example, Uncle Russell (Danny Glover) had too much nut cake and Norman had to bring him to the bathroom and Uncle Russell went the bathroom on his hand and When Norman got it out he was flailing his arms around like he was going to die and the way he expressed that scene made it pleasurable to watch. Now this actor, Ryan (Martin Lawrence) is an amazing actor. He portrays his role very well. He also knows how to keep his viewers intrigued and he can switch from being sad to serious to extremely happy and not make the film look like he has all of these emotions and doesn't know what to do with them. For example, when he tries to seduce Martina (Regine Nehy), he went from sweet sexual man to angry to confused when Aaron needed his help dealing with Frank. Acting is a gift some people have and some people don't, and these actors, they have it. Also from the movie I believe that sound has a big part in making this movie. In this movie there is a lot of yelling, gasping and loud noises. Sound has a big role because it makes you feel like you could have been apart of the scene because of it's good quality. Every sound was very clear and loud enough so it didn't sound like a whisper but soft enough so it didn't sound like someone was screaming in your ear. Sound in a movie is one of the most important things that produce a good movie. For example, when Oscar was high up on the drug it made him say wacky things but when he yelled it was very clear of what he said but it wasn't too loud. Also when he would whisper to himself it wasn't a wicked soft whisper that no one could hear but it was clear enough that it could be easily understood. In my opinion I think this is a very good movie overall and every movie has one or two faults to it but this movie was not bad at all. I thought it was interesting, insightful, funny and a little bit mysterious. Although there was swearing there was not a whole lot that made the movie un enjoyable. I thought the quality of the film was very good and the film played out smoothly without any mistakes. I would recommend and suggest this movie to anyone who asked me. Out of a 6 star rating scale I gave it a 5.4 because it was great but there were one or two things that threw me off from a perfect score but it is an enjoyable moving that can be shared with the whole family.