So funerals aren’t typically know for being well-springs from which tremendous comedic moments flow. Leave to the British then to say, “When are we going to see a really dry-witted comedy set at somebody’s final reward?” Well wonder no more. Directed by veteran funny man and puppet master Frank Oz, Death at a Funeral is a typical slice of Britannica with dry humour punctuated by odd bits of slap-stick and dangerously quirky characters. While not a black comedy per se, this film hilariously makes light of one of the dourest events in life and turns it a farce worthy of Three’s Company.



The titular funeral belongs to the father of Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), a would-be novelist who lives in the shadow of his talented brother Robert (Rupert Graves). The course of the day begins with the delivery of the wrong body to the service and segues into the tardy arrival of Robert who says that he can’t pay for his half of the funeral thus costing Daniel and his wife Jane (Keeley Hawes) the flat they’ve had their eye on. Further complications arise when a man named Peter (Peter Dinklage), tells Daniel that he and his Dad were lovers and that he, Peter, wants ₤15,000 worth of the estate. And if that isn’t bad enough an ecstasy filled bottle of Valium is making the rounds.



So basically, this is one of those British comedies with a bunch of quirky characters get caught in some hilarious misunderstandings. Nothing is held sacred from parody, not desecrating a corpse, not the casual ingestion of a hallucinogenic drug and certain not senior citizen incontinence and nudity. The stands out have to be Alan Tudyk, as straight laced bookkeeper Simon, who becomes the first to fall prey to a mistaken acid trip and Peter Vaughan as crusty old Uncle Alfie. Tudyk especially shows no shame as he flies through his acid trip past imaginary dogs and textile sensations to bring the funeral to a screeching halt when he climbs on the roof naked.



While I laughed a lot at the antics and buffoonery of Death at a Funeral, I have to concede the point that it treads a lot of the same territory of other British comedies. True that childish behaviour is somehow funnier when being done by someone with a haughty British accent, but again, I knew that already. The plot can get pretty sitcom-y at times with all its mad contrivances and victim of circumstance comedy routines, and under normal conditions I probably would have found that problematic. But again, I laughed a lot at this film and the actors are clearly master enough of their game to hit the ball at almost every at bat.