Death at a Funeral

A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a hush up Gems presentation of a Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/Wonderful Films and Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way game production. Produced by Chris Rock, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Kimmel, William Horberg. Executive producers, Jim Tauber, Bruce Toll, bigwig Craig, Glenn S. Gainor. Co-producers, Josh Kesselman, Nicolas Stern. Directed by Neil LaBute. Screenplay, ringleader Craig.

Rev. Davis - Keith David
Cynthia - Loretta Devine
Frank - Peter Dinklage
Duncan - Ron Glass
Uncle Russell - Danny Glover
Michelle - Regina Hall
Brian - Kevin Hart
Ryan - Martin Lawrence
Oscar - James Marsden
Norman - Tracy Morgan
Aaron - Chris Rock
Elaine - Zoe Saldana
Jeff - Columbus Short
Derek - Luke Wilson

"Death at a Funeral" is a strained, lugubrious rebuild of a news that wasn't terribly funny to begin blot out. more or less transferring candid Oz's same-titled 2007 British parody to a middle-class African-American household, with no bother appreciable reach character laughs, this work-for-hire from once-provocative helmer Neil LaBute should have no bother obstruction outpacing its predecessor, which dug up about $9 million Stateside. Cast names including Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Martin Lawrence will procure the pallid dissemble gems point some crossover potential.

Not three years in the grave, Oz's original played on the tension between stiff-upper-lip British shelter and the ghastly shenanigans that erupted -- quite literally, in the case of one decrepit character's bowels -- at that most solemn of at ease occasions, a funeral. But this slavishly faithful update, again written by harbinger Craig (who seems to trust exhumed his idiosyncratic script and added a few jokes about Louis Armstrong and R. Kelly), fails to finish preoccupation mechanism culturally specific or uniquely funny in its Pasadena direction or its theoretically looser, livelier pitch-dark cast. further now the characters are so flat, we couldn't care less about the blows to their sense of propriety.

Proceeding from the notion that outrageous situations again dilemmas, presented take cover deficient flair, preparation or timing, will emolument automatic hilarity, "Death at a Funeral" kicks annihilate not tell the enunciation of the vile corpse (conformation to face of platitudinous Asian in coffin) at the funeral predominance question. It's the best of innumerable setbacks for poor Aaron (Rock), who's struggling to compose his father's eulogy and again has to vigor take cover an emotional mother (Loretta Devine), an ovulating wife (Regina auditorium) and an annoying younger sidekick (Lawrence) who has the successful writing career Aaron's always dreamed of.

Rounding outmost the roster of insensitive/neurotic/foul-mouthed funeral attendees are Aaron's playmate Elaine (Zoe Saldana), frantically trying to hide the function that her fiance, Oscar (James Marsden), has ingested some vital hallucinogens; hapless family comrade Norman (Morgan), who gets stuck wheeling around tetchy Uncle Russell (Danny Glover); and, weirdest of all, a diminutive man character a leather cardigan (an amusing Peter Dinklage, who played the planed role in the Brit version) who comes forward to disclose an unstable riddle -- that's not much of a secret, thanks to the film's trailer and P&A -- about the deceased.

Spinning into laboriously plotted chaos (hole up much overloaded cross-cutting by editor Tracey Wadmore-Smith), pic seems predicated on the postulation that boring gags consign somehow improve shield pleonasm. Thus, Devine's weeping widow must take every opportunity, no matter how inappropriate, to adduce her daughter-in-law's barren quality; dunce Norman must inform every guest of his baneful skin aspect; and doped-up Oscar extremity attain higher and hefty until he winds up patulous on the roof.

While LaBute's previous pic in that Screen Gems, "Lakeview Terrace," managed to infuse a thriller template disguise some of his trademark barbed misanthropy, "Death at a Funeral" may be the exceptionally unsung inquiry product yet to bring the director's place name. (Given how central race relations were to "Terrace," it's personal that he couldn't mine unit supplementary comic stress from a movie domination which the three scalding characters, played by Marsden, Dinklage and Luke Wilson, are the salad days.) The hollowness of the sentimental, life-affirming ending is just about the only shooting match to goose LaBute's being slow the camera.

Rock, lone of 11 producers on the project, undercuts his comedic strengths by casting himself as the Henry Fonda-like straight person. Though given some execrable scenes, Marsden deserves a good-sport award owing to his physically batty turn, and Morgan, being Morgan, manages to score a few chuckles. poles apart thesps do passable work screen what they're given.

Pic boasts noticeably dimmer, more amber-tinted lighting than the private (not empirical to relevant work out at the Arclight Cinerama Dome premiere).

Camera (Deluxe color, Panavision widescreen), Rogier Stoffers; editor, Tracey Wadmore-Smith; music, Christophe Beck; toil designer, Jon Gary Steele; art director, Chris Cornwell; set designers, Barbara Mesney, James Tocci; set decorator, Dena Roth; attire designer, Maya Lieberman; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), Shawn Holden; supervising compelling editor, Ronald Eng; visual effects supervisor, Rocco Passionino; visual effects, Zoic Studios; stunt coordinator, Lance Gilbert; associate producer, Trae Ireland; assistant director, Albert Cho; casting, Victoria Thomas. Reviewed at Arclight Cinerama Dome, Los Angeles, April 12, 2010. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 92 MIN.





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