Why So Blu?

Brian Enjoys Talking About Death at a Funeral

I went into Wednesday night’s screening of Death at a Funeral with a bad attitude.  My day was lackluster.  It was one of those days you just simply eek through life and would rather forget.  So long story short, I went into the preview screening already expecting to hate it.  That’s always a bad thing in my world, but in the film critic business, the results can vary.  How you ask?  Let’s put it this way.  What if you were forced to watch something against your will and you ultimately end up liking it?  Ordinarily, that’s a good thing.  However, in the film world that’s either the ingredients of a successfully executed screenplay or one that slightly skirts outside of your low expectations box.  Which one was Death at a Funeral?  Let’s find out.

Much to my surprise, Death at a Funeral is actually a remake of the 2007 British black comedy of the same name.  This less than three-year gap between the original and this film make it one of the fastest remakes of an English language film in modern day times.  In other words, history in the making!  Now pay attention.  Here’s where it gets good.  Much like how February’s Valentine’s Day capitalized its initial success on the slew of box office stars it contained, Death at a Funeral closely follows suit.  Let’s see.  Should I list them all?  Oh hell.  Why not?  The film stars Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, James Marsden, Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Keith David, Ron Glass and Kevin Hart.  Interestingly enough, Chris Rock is also listed as one of the film’s producers.  So you know it has to be good, right?  Regardless, with all those modern day stars, how could one seriously doubt the week one box office success of this Screen Gems film?

If you have seen the film’s trailer and you have been to a funeral before, then you already understand and can conceptualize the underlying plot.  I’m not going to lie.  The film started out quite slow.  The jokes all felt forced.  Who knows?  Maybe it was my bad attitude.  I don’t know.  But then came James Marsden, and in my opinion, he single handedly rescued the film from an almost Act 1 demise.  From that point on, I found myself doing something I wasn’t prepared to do.  I was laughing.  There’s one scene in particular, and I won’t ruin it for anyone, that had the entire theater in proverbial stitches.  It felt like the longest minute of laughter in my life.  So loud was the movie-goers’ heckles that all the dialogue was completely inaudible for that one minute in time, but no one cared.  We were all having a good time.  Moments like these are so rare in movies nowadays.  Like the credit card commercials, it was priceless.  I mean seriously, who does not like a good poop joke now and then?  I know I do.

What Death at a Funeral does right is an important concept referred to in my dictionary called character development.  Each of the major players is distinguishable from one another.  That gives the comedy more depth, more meat and more backbone.  Death at a Funeral did not have me bum rushing out of the theater to log onto Amazon to pre-order it on Blu-ray, but it did one better than that.  It put a much needed smile on my face.  While there are many cliché moments, there were also a few moments of comedic genius that surprised even this frequent movie going patron.  I thought I had seen it all, especially when it comes to midget and poop jokes, but apparently there are a few fresh takes out there after all.  I applaud this.  If you find yourself looking for something to do this weekend and Kick-Ass is not your cup of tea, then I do whole-heartedly recommend taking in a dose of Death at a Funeral.  It’s a great 90-minute comedic escape from everyday mundane and stressful life.  And if for some reason you don’t crack a smile at least once during the picture, then there’s something seriously wrong with you.  Go seek help!