Movies – good for what ails you
Sometimes, even when you are nearing 30, mom still knows best.
At least my mom does. Last Friday she knew I’d had a really bad
day. So by the time I left the office at 5 p.m. to drive home to
Gilroy, she already had a plan of action to distract me from all
the things that might be wrong.
Movies – good for what ails you
Sometimes, even when you are nearing 30, mom still knows best. At least my mom does. Last Friday she knew I’d had a really bad day. So by the time I left the office at 5 p.m. to drive home to Gilroy, she already had a plan of action to distract me from all the things that might be wrong.
It included dinner and a movie. Dinner and a movie at home, so that I could lounge in my pajamas on the couch and share a blanket with my dog. We ordered dinner from Ninja Sushi – tempura and beef teriyaki, a bit of an unhealthy and expensive indulgence – and then we ran into Blockbuster. I eyed a few movies I’ve been wanting to see, including “There Will Be Blood” and “The Savages.”
But my mom said, “No, what we really need is a comedy.”
So that’s how we ended up with “Death at a Funeral.” The title might mislead some into thinking the film is a drama, but based on a recommendation from a coworker I’d heard it was quite funny. And it was.
The movie is directed by Frank Oz who directed comedies such as “What About Bob?” and “The Stepford Wives.” He’s also done the voices of various Muppets and Sesame Street characters.
His most recent production is quite a stretch from voicing children’s characters. Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) and his wife Jane (Keely Hawes) live with his parents in England. So when his father passes away, planning and paying for the funeral expenses falls to him.
As family and friends arrive, chaos ensues. Daniel’s wife is asking if he put down a deposit on their own place as promised – unknown to her, he has spent the money on the funeral, but hopes his brother will pay him back. His brother Robert (Rupert Graves) lives in New York and is a big-time novelist who spends all his time with famous people in fancy restaurants.
Robert is flying in for the funeral, and other family members are coming, including a few cousins and uncles.
Martha (Daisy Donovan) arrives with her boyfriend Simon (Alan Tudyk) and her brother Troy (Kris Marshall). Simon is so anxious about interacting with Martha’s father, who seems to hate everyone, that she gives him a valium while they wait in Troy’s apartment for him to finish dressing. Little do they know, Troy is not just studying pharmaceuticals, but does a little dealing on the side.
Add into the mix a reverend who has a strict time restriction and a crotchety old uncle, as well as an odd American man who no one seems to know, and the movie is full of laughs.
The thing that makes the movie work so well is that the key characters play it straight even as the most bizarre things happen around them. Macfadyen has a mild look about him and a voice like Clive Owen’s. Macfadyen’s Daniel stays levelheaded and logical throughout the movie, and even though everyone dotes on his brother, it is clear he is the one who holds the family together. He is the one the mysterious man approaches to discuss his late father’s dark secret – something that shouldn’t have been so secret from a look at the artwork in his father’s study. He is the one to give the eulogy, even though several family members ask why Robert, the writer, is not the one to do it.
While Daniel is one of the more central characters, Donovan also does a great turn as Martha for the time she is on the screen. She stands by Simon no matter what outlandish things he does under the influence of drugs to the embarrassment of her father. And when her father forbids her to see him, she stands up to him and walks away.
The ensemble works together well, and the family is way more dysfunctional than most families, so it should make most people feel a little less crazy. At the very least, it was a couple of hours full of laughs.
Look for capsule reviews of movies now being shown locally or soon to be out on DVD or Blu-ray at www.pinnaclenews.com/life.
