Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3059 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-02-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The latest comedy from director Frank Oz, Death at a Funeral unusually sets a funeral at the heart of a film that’s trying to generate laughs. It does prove to be quite a hurdle, but it’s to the credit of those involved that the film proves to be a worthwhile and diverting way to spend an hour and a half.

Starring Rupert Graves, Matthew MacFadyen and Peter Egan among a talented ensemble cast, Death at a Funeral ticks most of the boxes you’d expect of its concept, but does throw in a few twists of its own, too. There are family secrets, mix-ups, battling characters and the funeral itself to deal with, and Oz proves skilful at marrying the threads together.

Death at a Funeral manages to generate a good few laughs on the way to its fine ending, but it does have its problems. There are perhaps one too many contrivances to put up with, and the script doesn’t really do the director and his cast too many favours. In spite of its slight running time, it also manages to feel a little too long.

But Death at a Funeral is still, despite these problems, a perfectly competent British comedy, and a useful way to fill a night in. Don’t expect a masterpiece, and chances are you’ll have some fun with it. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Death At A Funeral follows the comic twists and turns as a family gather for the funeral of their father. Brothers Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) and Robert (Rupert Graves) are at each other’s throats until a mysterious guest from their father’s past threatens to unveil an earth-shattering family secret. As the brothers struggle to hide the truth from their family and friends, riotous mayhem and a hilarious sequence of events ensue, resulting in what sets out to be a dignified private affair turning into the mother of all funerals that no guest will soon forget.

Synopsis
Written by Dean Craig and directed by comedic veteran Frank Oz, DEATH AT A FUNERAL finds a well-to-do family attempting to bury their patriarch amidst a backdrop of secrets, revelations, rivalries, and illicit pharmaceuticals. While the dutiful Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen) stoically contends with major roadblocks in planning his father's funeral, including being presented with the wrong body, others connected with the family have catastrophes of their own, including the anxious Simon (Alan Tudyk), who is engaged to Martha (Daisy Donovan), and mistakenly takes a hallucinogen to calm his nerves. Lurking in the background is a mysterious stranger (Peter Dinklage) who threatens to send the chaotic proceedings over the brink.
A charming mix of high and lowbrow humour, DEATH AT A FUNERAL is a lively farce that makes the most of its hijinks-filled script and top-notch cast. In addition to excellent performances by MacFadyen (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) and Tudyk (SERENITY), the film features fine turns by Donovan, Andy Nyman, and Jane Asher. Easily Oz's best movie since the giddily silly BOWFINGER, DEATH AT A FUNERAL showcases the director's knack for working with large ensembles, and will appeal to fans of his earlier romp IN AND OUT, as well as to aficionados of biting British comedy.

Customer Reviews

Try To Keep A Stiff Upper Lip
"With a circus parade of mourning Brits and enough appalling circumstances to set proper Englishness back to the Dark Ages, "Death at a Funeral" pits decorum against sex, drugs and dysfunction. The winners? Auds who know you laugh hardest when you're not supposed to, and who appreciate the humorous qualities of embarrassment, blackmail and the twitting of the upper classes." John Anderson

This is decidedly a British humour film. The distance between pretension and crazy humour is not too far apart. The upper crust with their stiff upper lips seem to crack a bit. The patriarch of the house has gone and died. His British gentry friends and his family gather to say good-bye. The stoic older son who with his wife have been living in the family stead, is set to bring off this funeral with dignity. The anxiety he feels is palpable and then his younger brother, the famed novelist from the US arrives and upsets his world again. Into the mix arrives his cousin Martha with her fiancee who has unknowingly ingested a hallucinogen and goes mildly mad. The old debilitated uncle arrives via his wheel chair with two friends one gay and one well, just nerdy. And, one of the little people arrives whom it appears has a secret to sell. Needless to say the funeral goes berserk- a naked wild man on the roof, the little person bound and gagged, the minister who must leave urgently and the family dispositions come undone. It is all serious to the family and guests but to those of us looking on it is a hilarious romp- I found myself laughing out loud through much of the film.

The performances were superb. The staid son, Daniel is played by Matthew Macfadyen with perfection. His wife, Keeley Hawes, who wants a promise that they will put a down payment on the promised flat, plays her role with subtlety. The bereaved mother and wife, Jane Asher, wants no one to upstage her. Rupert Graves, the novelist is a supercilious brat. Martha, Daisy Donovan, steals the movie with her ability to be seriously funny while trying to convince her fiancee, Simon, Alan Tudyk to put his clothes on. Martha's father, Victor played by Peter Egan, is the epitome of the English gentry, a snob.

As a farce this often goes over the top, but we forgive the writer and director because we have tears rolling down our cheeks from laughter.

Highly Recommended prisrob 03-28-08

Belly achingly good
One of the funniest I have ever seen in the British comedy genre. The midget, the doped guy, the wheel-chaired old man (who figures in the unforgettable last scene), the squabbling brothers and of course the coffin provide unadulterated joy. I saw this on a flight and was laughing so loudly that co-passengers kept looking, and many switched to this movie instead of what they were watching.

They don't make them like this any more - sadly.
Like other reviewers, I saw this on a flight to the States for a Christmas break, and laughed so much my immediate neighbour thought I must be unwell. The film concerns a respectable middle class family funeral, with the family and friends gathered to pay their respects - well thats the idea - to the late dear departed father, husband and friend. But the motley group cannot know what terrible secret the deceased has held.
It all turns into pure farce, very 'laugh out loud' funny, many sight gags and totally preposterous non-PC situations. I saw it again last night with my family, who hadn't seen it before. and all were crying with laughter, Great entertainment.