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Death at a Funeral

A lively boneyard romp

By TOM MEEK | August 15, 2007

2.0 Stars

DEATH AT A FUNERAL: What else would there be?

Funerals in American movies seldom liven things up. But in Britain they can be the life of the party. Four Weddings and a Funeral and almost anything Peter Sellers was ever in take flight when it comes to the Last Rites. In the case of Death at a Funeral, with a screenplay by Brit Dean Craig and direction by American Frank Oz, the result is a bit stiff. Matthew Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice) and Rupert Graves are well cast as estranged brothers splitting hairs over money during their pop’s final send-off, and Alan Tudyk steals the film as the nervous son-in-law-to-be who loses his shit and his britches when he inadvertently pops a handful of hallucinogens. But gags involving excrement and gay dwarfs from the deceased’s past don’t do justice to the cinematic funeral tradition. Sellers would be proud of Tudyk’s comic romp, but he’d frown on the brain-dead excesses.

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Topics: Reviews , Entertainment, Movies, Peter Sellers, More

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