Die Laughing At A Funeral
British farce is a love potion of comedy, vary rarely is it pulled off with the precise timing required, the precise attitude taken, and with the careless abandon needed to make it fun. So, obviously the right director to try it would be Frank Oz. His movie, Death at a Funeral, starts the comedy off straight at the title and keeps you laughing up to the point the movie is over. A daunting feat alone, but even more so when revealed that Oz is a * gasp * American. But along with his writer Dean Craig and a very talented ensemble, he shows that the Yanks are capable of playing at the old boy’s game.
The movie revolves around a three-hour period that a funeral is taking place, definitely not funny, right? First comes the body, which is immediately identified by grieving son Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen) as NOT being his father. So out goes the undertaker with casket. In come fellow mourners like Martha and Simon (Daisy Donovan and Alan Tudyk) along with Martha’s brother. We have cousin Howard (Andy Nyman) whose bringing Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughn). There’s Daniel’s famous brother (Rupert Graves), the writer that everybody expects to give the eulogy (except for Daniel, who actually IS). And then there’s a strange four-foot guy (the inimitable Peter Dinklage) whom nobody seems to know. Sounds like a typical funeral, well, besides the body mix-up. How about a few family skeletons coming out of the closet at very inconvenient times (including one coming out a very different closet altogether)? Not there yet? Well, let’s add in a blackmail scheme, an overbooked priest, and a thumping coffin? Can we top that? How about some very powerful hallucinogenic that finds themselves in unwitting hands not once, not twice, but three times?
If you are aware of the traditions of British farce, you know how the movie is going to play out, but that’s not a weakness. Farce is efficient, going for the outrageous things to laugh at. It’s comedy of manners, of society and of nature. The story isn’t meant to be original, merely a means of creating the perfect storm of the right ingredients. Look at it this way, if only one ingredient was missing, this funeral wouldn’t have gone crazy. But because all the events that led up to the funeral we precise, we have one hilarious romp. Does the movie go overboard? Well, yes and no. Since farce requires extremes, it means to go overboard (I was grossed out by one feces joke that went a little too far).
To create that perfect storm scenario, casting is important. Let’s take Matthew MacFadyen, whom I had last seen in the latest remake of Pride and Prejudice. He’s obviously able to play deadpan humor like Colin Firth before him (and Alec Guinness before him). When he’s working a scene with the likes of Rupert Graves (who matches his step with equal talent as the freewheeling celebrity sibling) or Peter Dinklage (whom we’ll talk about in a minute), he’s capable of keeping the comedy at level while others like Alan Tudyk just play the more extreme comedy. I also love how the ladies Daisy Donovan and Keeley Hawes (as Daniel’s wife) seem to play an even more interesting level of comedy that’s not entirely deadpan, but neither is it extreme.
I think it’s time we talk about Peter Dinklage, not just about this movie, but his status as the switch-hitter of the movies. You would think there’s only so many movies you can have men of his height be in, considering that the character’s height is ALWAYS the issue. For Death at a Funeral, they turn his height into an asset, but without it being really about his height. I’m glad that the movies are capable of being inventive and sometimes less politically correct, allowing for guys like Dinklage to be apart of a cast as equals and not as “the short guy”.
For Frank Oz and Dean Craig, the movie is a testament to their skills as comedians. Oz, who is known for being the voice of Ms. Piggy and Yoda, as well as directing movies like The Shop of Horrors and Bowfinger, has a knowledge of comedy that few other comedians would understand and knows how to tell a story with it (something even Jerry Seinfeld has a problem doing). His pacing for the film is strict and rigid like the material itself, but even capable of making fun of itself. With his team and Mr. Craig’s screenplay, he has made another memorable comedy worthy of recommendation.
All in all, this is not the best comedy of the year, but in a year of great comedies, it stands toe-to-toe with The Simpsons Movie, Knocked Up and Superbad. It has fun on it’s own terms, laughs at it’s own mistakes, and puts us in a joyous mood. Something you don’t get from your everyday funeral.