Beware the blackmailing little person at the next funeral you attend.
Death at a Funeral
starring Keith David, Loretta Devine, Peter Dinklage, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, James Marsden, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Luke Wilson, Tracy Morgan
directed by Neil LaBute
Chris Rock is a funny guy. Every stand up special that I have seen him in has had me rolling on the ground in front of my couch trying to keep my sides from splitting open. He cracks me up. Unfortunately for the most part, his film roles are never quite as entertaining. I mean, did anybody actually see I Think I Love My Wife? But when you’ve got the likes of Luke Wilson, Martin Lawrence, Danny Glover, and Kevin Hart starring too, the chances for a decently funny film are fairly high. Plus, its another good excuse to look at Zoe Saldana for an hour and a half.
Aaron (Rock) is honoring his father’s dying wish by having the funeral at the family home. His mostly absent yet successful brother Ryan (Lawrence) is coming in for the funeral; but he’s expected to be paying more attention to the younger ladies than the service. Aaron’s wife Michelle (Hall) won’t let Aaron forget she is ovulating and they need to ‘do it’ soon. His neurotic friend Norman (Morgan) is responsible for bringing his mean old Uncle Russell (Glover). Aaron’s cousin Elaine (Saldana) is bringing her fiance (Marsden) to the funeral. Only he’s been accidentally drugged by Elaine’s brother Jeff (Short). And among the other family and friends, there’s a strange, short man named Frank (Dinklage) that seems to have had a special if not intimate relationship with the deceased. Add all this up, and you’ve got one extraordinary chance at a catastrophe happening.
The entire premise of the film is a bunch of crazy people in crazy circumstances at a funeral. That’s it. It goes not further or deeper, and does not attempt to expound on any details or story line. In fact, plot itself is nonexistent. The movie plays out like a bad SNL sketch. Its awkward, not funny, and should have lasted no longer than ten minutes. In fact, let’s call it what it is. The entire idea for the film is in fact a sketch that the film makers attempted to stretch into a full length film. They hired a bunch of big name people to catch the movie goers attention, and cut all the decently good parts into the two minute preview. You’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the film.
There are people that are in this film; I refuse to call it actual acting. Chris Rock acted like he acts on the stage in one of his stand up specials. He makes a few extremely fake attempts at emotion. Martin Lawrence plays the same character he’s played in everything he’s ever starred it. But that’s Martin Lawrence, he’s always been a one note kind of guy. This film is a complete waste of time for Zoe Saldana; she’s better than this. The only actually funny parts that are worth seeing are played by Danny Glover and James Marsden. Glover is wonderful as the cranky and cantankerous Uncle Russell. Every grumble out of his mouth is worth a chuckle. And James Marsden went all out for his acid-induced tantrum, and it was really funny; its just sad, because he spent the movie being goofy without any one liners. The actors and actresses that actually had lines let them fall flat with no punch.
All in all? Death at a Funeral is a complete and utter waste of time and money. Its amazing to me what kind of crap gets funded, produced, and distributed to the masses just because a few names with a bit of Hollywood clout are attached. Just because Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence are in it, doesn’t mean you don’t have to have a decent script. Or a point to it, at all. The worst kinds of films are the ones that throw everything to the wind and bet it all on just simply who is in it to carry the weight. I recently reviewed a little film called Legion that I felt much the same way about. A comedy with NO plot, NO direction, and NO funny will get you NO KUDOS. Don’t waste your money, reader. Just buy another Chris Rock stand-up DVD.
Eulogy For Chris Rock
Beware the blackmailing little person at the next funeral you attend.
Death at a Funeral
starring Keith David, Loretta Devine, Peter Dinklage, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, James Marsden, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Luke Wilson, Tracy Morgan
directed by Neil LaBute
Chris Rock is a funny guy. Every stand up special that I have seen him in has had me rolling on the ground in front of my couch trying to keep my sides from splitting open. He cracks me up. Unfortunately for the most part, his film roles are never quite as entertaining. I mean, did anybody actually see I Think I Love My Wife? But when you’ve got the likes of Luke Wilson, Martin Lawrence, Danny Glover, and Kevin Hart starring too, the chances for a decently funny film are fairly high. Plus, its another good excuse to look at Zoe Saldana for an hour and a half.
Aaron (Rock) is honoring his father’s dying wish by having the funeral at the family home. His mostly absent yet successful brother Ryan (Lawrence) is coming in for the funeral; but he’s expected to be paying more attention to the younger ladies than the service. Aaron’s wife Michelle (Hall) won’t let Aaron forget she is ovulating and they need to ‘do it’ soon. His neurotic friend Norman (Morgan) is responsible for bringing his mean old Uncle Russell (Glover). Aaron’s cousin Elaine (Saldana) is bringing her fiance (Marsden) to the funeral. Only he’s been accidentally drugged by Elaine’s brother Jeff (Short). And among the other family and friends, there’s a strange, short man named Frank (Dinklage) that seems to have had a special if not intimate relationship with the deceased. Add all this up, and you’ve got one extraordinary chance at a catastrophe happening.
The entire premise of the film is a bunch of crazy people in crazy circumstances at a funeral. That’s it. It goes not further or deeper, and does not attempt to expound on any details or story line. In fact, plot itself is nonexistent. The movie plays out like a bad SNL sketch. Its awkward, not funny, and should have lasted no longer than ten minutes. In fact, let’s call it what it is. The entire idea for the film is in fact a sketch that the film makers attempted to stretch into a full length film. They hired a bunch of big name people to catch the movie goers attention, and cut all the decently good parts into the two minute preview. You’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the film.
There are people that are in this film; I refuse to call it actual acting. Chris Rock acted like he acts on the stage in one of his stand up specials. He makes a few extremely fake attempts at emotion. Martin Lawrence plays the same character he’s played in everything he’s ever starred it. But that’s Martin Lawrence, he’s always been a one note kind of guy. This film is a complete waste of time for Zoe Saldana; she’s better than this. The only actually funny parts that are worth seeing are played by Danny Glover and James Marsden. Glover is wonderful as the cranky and cantankerous Uncle Russell. Every grumble out of his mouth is worth a chuckle. And James Marsden went all out for his acid-induced tantrum, and it was really funny; its just sad, because he spent the movie being goofy without any one liners. The actors and actresses that actually had lines let them fall flat with no punch.
All in all? Death at a Funeral is a complete and utter waste of time and money. Its amazing to me what kind of crap gets funded, produced, and distributed to the masses just because a few names with a bit of Hollywood clout are attached. Just because Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence are in it, doesn’t mean you don’t have to have a decent script. Or a point to it, at all. The worst kinds of films are the ones that throw everything to the wind and bet it all on just simply who is in it to carry the weight. I recently reviewed a little film called Legion that I felt much the same way about. A comedy with NO plot, NO direction, and NO funny will get you NO KUDOS. Don’t waste your money, reader. Just buy another Chris Rock stand-up DVD.