Going into a film whose cast boasts the stars of low rent comedies like Big Momma’s House, Scary Movie, Down to Earth and this week’s Cop Out my expectations were, as you’d expect, rock bottom. Having said that, as a big fan of The [American] Office I am perhaps a little more tolerant of American remakes than most.
Although the film boasts a substantial, if mediocre ensemble cast it seems to centre around Chris Rock in a uncharacteristically straight role as the much put upon son of a recently deceased family man. Things go from bad to worse for Rock’s Aaron when his dysfunctional friends and family begin arriving for the funeral. Throw into the mix a geriatric Danny Glover, a hallucinating James Marsden and a homosexual dwarf with a penchant for extortion and a picture starts to form in your mind as to what the film entails.
To my surprise the film begins well. Sticking closely to the frame work of the 2007 Brit flick Neil LaBute manages to introduce the vast array of characters quickly and concisely. As well as forgrounding the individual issues that occupied their own stories the director also manages to squeeze out one or two early laughs. Most notably for me was 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan whose more subdued role actually proved funnier than his typical loud mouthed lunacy.
Unfortunately these intricate threads all begin to get irrevocably tangled once the guests start arriving at the funeral. I for one would love to have been a fly on the wall at the after premier party when Neil LaBute was almost certainly confronted by ninety percent of the cast, all of whom had surely been under the impression they were the star of the movie.
Like a lot of films set over an almost real time period Death at a Funeral struggles with its pacing, jumping from farcical skit to farcical skit without any real glimmer of plot development. By the time James Marsden’s paranoid (almost) in-law knocks over the coffin and Danny Glover has uttered the most obvious and cynical self reference the film has well and truly lost sight of its initial good intentions.
From here on out the film and it’s cast reverts completely to type. Tracy Morgan is brash, Danny Glover is Grumpy and Zoe Saldana says little more than two words but occupies at least a quarter of the screen time.
At the point where the British version became reminiscent of its screwball, Ealing Comedy forefathers the remake gets lazy, relying on ‘Poop’ gags for a cheap laughs. What little narrative flow left is fragmented by Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock who seem to be embroiled in some kind of competition to ‘improv’ as much of their personal stand up into the script as possible. Even Peter Dinklage, who reprises his renamed role as Peter/Frank struggles to find the laughs here.
I’m sure that across the Atlantic that Death at a Funeral will outperform its British predecessor for no other reason than its inexplicably popular cast. However, when faced with the choice I know which film I’d rather revisit. Frank Oz’s 2007 version is an observed, if somewhat microcosmic, depiction of the idiosyncrasies of family and grief and whilst LeBute’s rehash sets out to Americanise the stories quintessentially British idioms it only really succeeds in dumming them down.
