There have been several literal film
remakes made in recent years—Gus Van Sant and Michael Haneke’s
respective shot-for-shot updates of Psycho and Funny
Games spring to mind—but never have I encountered one as
unnecessary as the new Death at a Funeral. Essentially a
straightforward “blackification” of the 2007 British farce, I
could just picture the studio-heads’ financially motivated
discussion about green-lighting the movie as I watched it.
“Tyler Perry has proven that urban audiences will go for
anything starring black actors, so why don’t we put this
together quickly and cheaply with as much star-power as
possible?” one probably asserted. It’s never a good sign when I
find myself contemplating why, God why? a film was made
before it’s even over.
Rotten inception aside, it’s still
tough to figure out why Death at a Funeral turned out so
downright boring with such a funny cast: Chris Rock, Martin
Lawrence, Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, Luke Wilson, James
Marsden… the list goes on. Certainly, many who have not seen the
original film (a substantial group) will find the established
plot-points amusing and, at times, even hilarious. But the
banter filling in the lines is weak and unfunny, which results
in long dry patches. For those already familiar with where the
story’s headed – forget about it. Watching one copycat
revelation after another, I felt as though I was toughing the
picture out because, frankly, I’d seen it before.
That’s a pretty big statement given
that Rock looks nothing like Matthew MacFayden, nor Lawrence
like Rupert Graves. In fact, it clearly took quite a bit of
effort for this Death at a Funeral to resemble its
predecessor. After all, the simple story—a family convenes for
the funeral of its patriarch and ironic, awkward misadventures
ensue—allows for almost unlimited liberties to be taken. As to
whether the puzzlingly stringent adherence to the original was
the doing of writer Dean Craig (who penned that film as well) or
the cast, I won’t make any hasty presumptions. I do think,
however, that this creative choice does not show a whole lot of
respect for the audience. American moviegoers, particularly the
African-American demographic the film is targeted at, must just
be too stupid for the very British original, right? In creating
this allegedly more mainstream and accessible version, the
filmmakers made one of the elitist recent movies. I’m sure just
about anyone could “get” the first one already, no problem.
As far as the acting goes, it’s OK, I
guess – certainly nothing to get worked up over. Rock furthers
his interest in playing a mature protagonist at a semi-comedic
crisis-point in his life (after I Think I Love My Wife,
which he also directed). He doesn’t show off, which is a nice
change of pace, but given how sleepy the movie is on the whole,
I kind of wish he would’ve launched into one of his trademark
standup tirades. Lawrence is, well, Lawrence – not an incredibly
gifted actor, but an affable presence. Unfortunately, he isn’t
given anything to do, tossed a few throwaway one-liners and left
to paint an acceptable character around them. The many
supporters are on about the same level, with the exception of,
ironically, the two most prominent white actors in the cast.
James Marsden’s off-the-wall stab at a soon-to-be in-law who
attends the funeral while unknowingly on a hallucinogenic at
least rivals—maybe even surpasses—Alan Tudyk’s original. And
Peter Dinklage, reprising his role as the deceased’s closet gay
lover, is splendid, going even sleazier this time than he did
the first.
But even with a few standouts, this
Death at a Funeral is an unmistakable dud. And that’s a
shame, not only because of the utterly wasted cast, but because
the director is the equally talented Neil LaBute. Perhaps after
his failure at a more liberal remake of The Wicker Man,
LaBute felt the need to go ultra-conservative this time around.
On the bright side, at least he didn’t attempt to make the film
different by ghettofying it to further “reach out” to black
audiences. It is admittedly refreshing to see an
African-American family depicted as wealthy and white-collar
here, as they rarely are on film. But ultimately, no welcome
representation of diversity can save a picture as boring as this
one. Gene Siskel’s line about how he’d rather watch the same
actors sharing lunch rarely rings as true as it does with 2010’s
Death at a Funeral.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 4.21.2010
Death at a Funeral is rated R and runs
90
minutes.
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