Ah England, the pastoral countryside and the quintessential manor house, all ready and dressed up for a party… wait, this isn't a party but a funeral which we learn when we notice that all the guests arriving and milling about are dressed in black.

Then the hearse arrives, oh my goodness, the coffin is dropped and the wrong body falls out. "Where is my father" says Daniel,(Matthew Macfadyan), the son of the deceased, in quite a fit of anger as he struggles with the driver to fit the unknown body back into the coffin and back in the hearse to be exchanged for the right body to be buried that day.

And that, is just the beginning of Death at a Funeral one of the funniest dark comedies I've seen in a long time.

Daniels brother Robert, (Rupert Graves), arrives, who just flew in from New York "first class". He's a successful writer, but is he really? Later on in the film we find out that he is a bit short of cash.

On the way to the funeral we meet Martha, (Daisy Donovan), and her fiancé, Simon (Alan Tudyke). They have come to her brother Troy's house to pick up him up, but, on the way they had a close call while driving and Simon is quite nervous and upset…"here, take a Valium" she says to Simon and hands him a pill out of a bottle which we had just seen Troy fill with some pills, leaving it sitting on the table… apparently Troy, (Kris Marshall), is some sort of a pharmacologist, designer, drug dealer. But what kind of drugs?

At the same time Howard and Justin, cousin and bizarre friend, are on their way to the funeral with more crazy incidents taking place including picking up difficult old Uncle Alfie, who happens to be in a wheelchair…The stage is set when all the grief stricken members of the family and friends arrive….

so does the chaos.

When Simon starts acting a bit odd, Martha just can't quite understand what is going on. Especially since she wanted Simon to make a good impression on her father, a staid old character, but that is certainly not to be. Also, at the same time, Daniel is dealing with his wife Jane who wants to move out of the house into their own place, he will have to tell his mother, the new widow, that he is finally moving out.

Then there is the quirky character Justin trying to hit on Martha while his friend Howard seems to be having a nervous breakdown, and a dwarf is lurking around every corner trying to get the attention of Daniel who is trying to come up with a memorial speech for his father.

With all that going on, is there room for more insanity? Well, get ready for the big "secret" when the dwarf, (Peter Dinklage), finally gets to tell his tale to Daniel along with some pictures he just happens to have.

Talk about skeletons in the closet!

Meanwhile Simon is getting weirder and weirder as the affects of this drug become stronger. Does he actually see the coffin move? And what happens when that pill bottle falls out of Troy's hands in the garden.

How do the brothers deal with the new information they have come privy to and what happens to the dwarf? And, what about Uncle Alfie when he gets stuck on the commode, what is he witness to?

I don't want to give any of these family secrets away but I must say I laughed my head off watching this story unfold in this dark, eccentric and humorous British Comedy. I told a friend about it and today as I was writing my review she called me 3 times laughing.

Director Frank Oz did another great job on this film as did the writer Dean Craig, the funny action and lines just kept coming one right after the other. Oz, known for directing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob? The Indian in the Cupboard and the re-make of The Stepford Wives, just to name a few, is also known for his puppetry work on many of the Sesame Street characters.

He certainly excelled in this movie with all the goings on in this quirky tale.

So, for some laugh out loud moments I give Death at a Funeral 4 stars along with a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys their laughter with a twist of the macabre.

90 minutes long

Main Cast:
Matthew MacFadyen - Daniel
Andy Nyman - Howard
Daisy Donovan - Martha
Jane Asher - Sandra
Rupert Graves - Robert
Peter Dinklage - dwarf
Keeley Hawes - Jane
Ewen Bremner - Justin
Alan Tudyk - Simon
Kris Marshall - Troy
Peter Vaughan - Uncle Alfie

Director:
Frank Oz
Writer
Dean Craig
Producers:
Sidney Kimmel, Diana Phillips, Laurence Malkin

Rating: R
Profanity, Drug Content, Sexual Situations,



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age