Joyeuses Funérailles

"Death at a Funeral" is a hilarious British black comedy from 2007 starring Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Dinklage, Jane Asher, Alan Tudyk, Kris Marshall, Rupert Graves, and Peter Vaughan.

A family gathers for the patriarch's funeral: his wife (Asher), his son Daniel (MacFadyen) and his wife Jane (Keely Hawes, MacFadyen's real-life wife), and his son Robert (Rupert Graves).

Robert is a well-known author living in a New York City penthouse; Daniel and Jane have been looking after his parents but now are planning to get a flat further away. Daniel and Robert are supposed to split the cost of the funeral, but Robert claims to have no money because it's expensive to keep up his lifestyle. He also won't give the eulogy, though everyone who walks in asks him if he's going to.

Meanwhile, Daniel practices a eulogy but never seems to get past, "My father was an exceptional man." Meanwhile, the funeral home has brought the wrong body and has to return to get the right one.

Daniel and Robert's cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is attending the funeral with her boyfriend Simon (Tudyk). When they go to pick up Troy (Marshall), Martha gives the nervous Simon what she thinks is a Valium. It's a hallucinogenic concocted by Troy, who is a pharmacy student.

By the time they get to the wedding, Simon is acting strangely. Not as strangely as he would act later on, but strangely.

Daniel notices a dwarf (Dinklage) at the funeral; the man says he wants to speak with Daniel privately. His name is Peter.

That's all I'll say but the story becomes more and more bizarre and funny, including a hypochondriac with a discoloration on his wrist that he's sure is a dreaded disease, blackmail, nudity, a locked bathroom, and lots of other things.

Very, very entertaining with fine performances, no one going for laughs, just playing the characters. That's really the way to do it.

One of my favorite parts occurs when Robert tries to dismiss the problems brought in by Peter, saying, "Oh, no one even noticed him." "No one noticed him?" Daniel asks. "He's 4'5!" A lovely ending puts the cap on this entertaining film.

I found this to be the funniest movie that I've seen in ages. We saw it today (July 12th) in Herzliya, Israel at the local movie theater at the mall.

There were only 8 people in the whole audience, and my husband and I filled the room with howls of laughter.

The actors are fabulous, especially Alan Tudyk, Khris Marshall, Andy Nyman, Peter Dinklage, and Daisy Donovan. Actually, the whole ensemble was great.

Especially Alan Tudyk keeps his frenetic performance absolutely hysterically funny, throughout most of the film!

Free of Hollywood hype, this film was a pleasure.

The wackiest Funeral you'll ever witness.

I went to this screening expecting it to be a serious movie -- you don't expect to be laughing at a movie with both "Death" and "Funeral" in the title -- but this film was hilarious! It wasn't just me -- the theater was full of people screaming with laughter and clapping at various moments.

Alan Tudyk is hilarious every moment he is on screen. Finally this underrated actor has gotten a good-sized part where he can show off his comedy skills.

Most of the actors are British and I did not recognize them, but they were excellent.

One I recognized was Jane Asher (she was Paul McCartney's girlfriend in the 60s -- he shoulda married her -- she's still alive and she's not a gold-digger). She plays the very composed widow here. (Oddly she has fewer creases on her face than her middle-aged sons.)

This film reminded me a bit of "Four Weddings and a Funeral", but even more of those British madcap black comedies of the 60s with Alec Guinness or Peter Sellers.

This is one of my favourite comedies of all time. The humour is very British, very black and the cast are all superb. Don't watch the American re-make (why??? we speak the same language?) Watch this.

Don't watch the American remake. This is the version to watch, absolutely hilarious. No spoilers- just watch it and treat yourself to some laughs. 8/10.