Death at a Funeral

So, at the top of my Netflix queue was Death at a Funeral. It’s just one of those movies I feel like I have to watch considering the good things I’ve heard about it. The premise centers around two brothers who have a funeral for their father and various hijinks ensue. It starts off at a nice, steady pace, not too slow or jumping the shark straightaway.

Than suddenly it just kicks off into a complete fiasco. First the brothers find out that their father was having an affair with a gay man, who is a midget (I don’t know if that’s the politically correct term). A guy’s naked on the roof threatening to jump because he’s out of his mind delirious because of the wacky acid concoction one of the family members made and put in a valium bottle, which gets misplaced quite often throughout the entire movie. Than one of the brothers hogties the midget and gives him valium to calm down only to discover, like I said before, that it’s acid…I really could go on. I mean, this movie is a circus!

I can say with all honesty it was a complete enjoyment. The characters were hilarious. I love the witty banter and the occasional gross out humor. My favorite movie premises are often about wacky, unusual characters who are all thrown into a seemingly normal situation and what becomes of it is nothing short of a wild ride. For instance, Little Miss Sunshine, the Breakfast Club, The Big Lebowski...

I also really enjoyed the main character’s journey. He starts off as being this insecure younger brother type, who’s jealous of his older brother’s wealth and fame as a writer. He’s very straight-laced, but by the end of the movie, in order to keep the appearance of “order” he’s stuffing a dead midget into his father’s coffin! It’s far more enjoyable for me to watch characters go from a stable, straight-laced world to a chaotic, by any means necessary situation. The acting was great. I really believed in these crazy characters and they were all funny in their own way. It wasn’t one of those movies where one outshines the rest. I also particularly enjoy movies that take place in one location. I feel like it can impose a lot of pressure on characters to be active, it sets an atmosphere that some movies lack, and it forces the storytellers to be creative. I’d give this movie 3 ½ out of 4 stars.

~Brianna P.