death at a funeral
The story on this one is sort of like eulogy (if you’ve seen that). Relatively estranged family members meet in order to mourn the loss of their brother, husband, father, etc. There’s the usual humor centered around inadvertent drug use, unimpressive choices in soon-t0-be spouses and any number of other family drama injections. The dialog is quite funny and the story is paced very well. It never got boring and the twist was not only fairly unexpected, but was, like most things after it, hilarious.
British humor is usually a bit darker, smarter and more subtle than Americanized funny. I tend to enjoy it, so I’m completely biased. Still, this one rates well on my list of death-centered comedies. The story-line is solid and kept me entertained through the thoughtful, if slightly forced, climax.
The acting was pretty impressive. I liked Alan Tudyk (dodgeball, as the pirate) in this one. Fairly accurate portrayal at least according to my assumptions and uninhibited awesome. Peter Dinklage (station agent) was awesome. His expressions and reactions were spot-on.
I liked it. It was quite dark, but came out with a satisfying resolution. The characters were believable and identifiable. There was enough emotion and intensity to make the situation real, but enough lightheartedness to keep it from swallowing me whole.
***1/2