Death at a Funeral

Set in a small, bucolic town in Britain, “Death at a Funeral” is directed by Frank Oz and stars a cast of mostly little-known character actors. It´s a farce that relies heavily on the believability of happenstance–and for the most part, it works.

Dutiful Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen) is handling the funeral of his father, making sure that everyone is invited and in attendance–and that includes his smart, successful and popular novelist brother, Robert (Rupert Graves), who flies in from New York and makes it just in time to find out that the wrong body has been sent to the viewing. While that problem is getting rectified, a dozen others pop up. Cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) has brought her flustered fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk), to the funeral, but he´s accidentally popped a tablet of acid instead of aspirin on the way there.

Meanwhile, Daisy´s insistent ex, Justin (Ewen Bremmer), won´t stop hitting on her, while Daniel is accosted by a mysterious mourner (Peter Dinklage) who harbors a dark secret about dear old Dad. Add to that an impatient vicar (Thomas Wheatley) and a whole host of guests with outrageous problems of their own, and you´ve got yourself an ensemble comedy that coaxes forth a coffin-case of the giggles.

The story is quite preposterous, and it does unfortunately delve too deeply into some repugnant potty humor, but overall it is deftly directed, the comic set-ups are well-timed, and the actors are not only perfectly cast but more than up to the task.