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Death at a Funeral (2010)

Director: Neil LaBute

Time Out rating

Average user rating

5 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

A modest British romp gets a Hollywood makeover a mere two years later: what’s the story there? Well, solid situation-comedy scenarios are obviously at a premium, so Craig Dean’s fairly traditional farce gets an LA redo, with Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence replacing Matthew Macfadyen and Rupert Graves as warring siblings enduring their father’s chaotic funeral. Hence, the humour takes an uptight social situation and unleashes serial indignities upon it – from mislabelled acid tablets, naked people, splattering bowel movements and even a mystery guest in the compact form of Peter Dinklage (the only actor in both versions). Some of this is crude, much of it predictable, but it is a crowd-pleaser, since director Neil LaBute’s performers willingly play it that bit broader, while an expanded budget brings a somewhat less poky feel. Although it still only just gets away with sundry homophobic and size-ist gags, there’s a tad more zing than the original, though if you caught that already, be warned: this is a scene-for-scene retread.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 2076: June 3 – 10, 2010

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User reviews of this film

ric said...

Posted on Jun 29 2010 09:09 dont agree with funniest film since hangover(that has a crown of its own) i didnt think it was up to much.watchable!
martin lawrence was funnier than chris rock 6/10

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Thomas Noctor said...

Posted on Jun 27 2010 10:22 Funniest film since The Hangover, great cast great movie!

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GPR said...

Posted on Jun 09 2010 15:19 Well it was very good. It was almost totally identical to the original which really does beg the question "why?", but will therefore hopefully make the writers a bit more cash as obviously an American film will get far better promotion than any British film.

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scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Jun 07 2010 22:13 It LOOKED feeble. its not. Its a rock (no pun) solid comedy of the type so rare since the gross out/teens shagging pies sort took over in the last 10 years. A total joy. 8/10

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GPR said...

Posted on Jun 04 2010 00:38 Well I will be going to see it despite having thought the first film was brilliant, if only to do the geeky comparison thing. There will be cultural differences (the whole purpose of the remake I presume) but I do initially wonder at this weird refusal the US has to open up and accept a culture that is not that far detached from their own. It is as if they still believe we are all either clones of Hugh Grant or Liam Gallagher with little inbetween. Anyway, it was fun the first time and I'm sure I'll enjoy the remake.
Just a thought - perhaps it was because it was described as a 'black' comedy that confused the Yanks and that is why the new one is transposed to a black family???

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