Oz’s latest directorial effort not so wonderful
Death at a Funeral is a mediocre British comedy that masks Animal House adolescence with a sheen of black humour. The film opens with undertakers driving a hearse through a pastoral setting in rural England similar to the area imagined in Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest. It’s a classic slow-burn joke that peaks when the casket is delivered opened at a dignified residence and the body inside cannot be identified. The scene works well but unfortunately it’s entirely unlike the increasingly juvenile humour that follows.
As the voice of many of the old Muppet characters (Miss Piggy Fozzy Bear) and the director behind hit comedy films like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Bowfinger (1999) one would assume that Frank Oz would have applied his aptitude by sculpting memorable characters for Death at a Funeral . Alas with a dozen hollow comic-relief personalities there is simply not enough time for meaningful dialogue or development. In fact the plot revolves around the clashing of unimaginative oddballs. Essentially every stereotype in the overstuffed comedy genre is represented — a midget a geriatric a doctor losers and trophy wives.
Character problems aside the title of the film is also misleading. There is no death at the funeral. Midway through the plot gives every indication that it is going in the direction of a murder mystery — there seems to be a logical buildup of acceptable motives surrounding many of the character conflicts. This notion quickly passes as the viewer is reminded that the true purpose of the film is to gross out audiences with feces make them squirm over irresponsible drug use and to create awkward sexual overtones. Cheap physical jokes are repeated ad nauseum in a feeble attempt to sustain the thin plot.
In the theatre the film seems to elicit a mixed reaction. Many people were hooting in either approval or in disgust (it was difficult to tell) during the film’s cruder moments — much like they would when watching the American Pie series or Rat Race . Afterwards though it was clear that those hoping to relish in well-crafted British wit were extremely disappointed.
