Death At A Funeral

This was my way of ringing in 2014.  Once we had decided to spend NY Eve at home, the choice of a movie had zeroed down to a comedy.  The last thing I wanted was to ring in NY 2014 with a sad movie – no matter how well it was made.  And in my not so limited collection – I could easily pick Death At A Funeral as one of the top 5 British Comedies (with all due respect, the Americans make slapstick ;)).

Death At a Funeral was director Frank Oz’s (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – yet another must watch) last full length feature.  I hope he comes back with his next one soon enough.  Not just because both these movies are fine examples of comedy but also because of the attention to detail that Oz gets to the table even when it is intended to be a fun movie for a Sunday afternoon.

Oz’s timing with his scenes and dialogues are simply stunning and I am going to call a few out

1. When Jane (Keeley Hawes) is nice to Sandra (Jane Asher), her bereaved mother in law, she says, “If there is anything I can help you with…”.  All Sandra has to say is, “Don’t do that (to the coffin), you will leave smudges” – one statement that captures everything you want to know about Sandra
2. Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen) says, “Jesus Fucking Christ” only to see the Revenrend (Thomas Wheatley) standing right behind him
3. Right after Daniel is told about his father being gay, he walks out of the room into a bunch of his father’s old friends who say, “We were just talking aout how your father used to get us to go skinny dipping”.

Just a few instances that I noted over this tightly made 90 minute British comedy that traces the humourous events that unravel themselves at the funeral of Daniel’s father on an average ordinary everyday summer afternoon.  Right from the delivery of a wrong body to the much awaited eulogy from Daniel, DAAF, is a laugh riot – ironically at a funeral.

The dialogues and screenplay from Dean Craig are simply brilliant.  And if you are into a version of humour that is dry and simply British – this is a must watch.  Alan Tudyk gives us a performance of his life as Simon - Martha’s (Daisy Donovan) fiancé – who has a lethal concoction of drugs assuming it to be Valium.  The entire cast for that matter is simply superb with their comic timing.

If you haven’t seen DAAF till date, make it a point to do what it takes to watch it this year.  It is one of the finest British Comedies ever made and will leave you laughing out loud.  That it is kept short and sweet is only an added advantage.  Slot it for a Sunday afternoon or a tough night after work and you will definitely have a good time.  7.5 on 10 and a good start to 2014 to me and hopefully all of you.  HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS!!!

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xtS83sKGg