Death at a Funeral (2010 film)

Death at a Funeral
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Neil LaBute
Produced by	Sidney Kimmel William Hordberg Chris Rock Share Stallings Laurence Malkin
Written by	Dean Craig
Starring	Loretta Devine Peter Dinklage Danny Glover Regina Hall Martin Lawrence James Marsden Tracy Morgan Chris Rock Zoe Saldana Columbus Short Luke Wilson
Music by	Christophe Beck
Cinematography	Rogier Stoffers
Editing by	Tracey Wadmore-Smith
Studio	Sidney Kimmel Entertainment Wonderful Films Parabolic Pictures Stable Way Entertainment
Distributed by	Screen Gems
Release date(s)	April 16, 2010 (2010-04-16)
Running time	92 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21 million
Box office	$49,050,886

Death at a Funeral is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Neil LaBute and starring an ensemble cast. The film is a remake of the 2007 British film of the same name.

Plot

The film revolves around the funeral ceremony for the father of Aaron (Chris Rock) and Ryan (Martin Lawrence). Aaron, the older son, lives with his wife Michelle (Regina Hall) at his parent's home. Aaron and Michelle have been trying to buy their own home and have children but have been unsuccessful. Aaron envies Ryan because Ryan is a successful writer, while he has not had his novel published, and resents his brother because he would rather spend money on two first class tickets (for himself) from New York to L.A. than help him pay for the funeral expenses.

Aaron and Ryan's cousin Elaine (Zoe Saldana) and her fiancé Oscar (James Marsden) are on their way to pick up her brother Jeff (Columbus Short) before heading to the funeral. To ease Oscar's nerves, she gives him what she believes is Valium. Jeff later reveals to Elaine that it is actually a hallucinogenic drug he's concocted for his friend. Chaos ensues when Oscar hallucinates that the coffin is moving; he knocks it over, which pushes the body out of the coffin.

Aaron is approached by an unknown guest, a dwarf named Frank (Peter Dinklage, reprising his role from the original film), who reveals himself to be the secret lover of his deceased father. Frank shows Aaron photos as proof and threatens to reveal them to Aaron's mother unless he is paid $30,000. Aaron tells Ryan, who suggest Aaron pay the money because Ryan claims he's buried in debt. While Aaron and Ryan meet with him to pay him, Frank starts to deride Aaron's ability as writer and Aaron refuses to pay. Frank begins to turn violent and position his hand in his pocket (hinting he may have a gun)and tries to leave the room; Ryan attacks Frank and both Aaron and Ryan tie Frank up to prevent him from leaving. Norman (Tracy Morgan) comes in and sees what happened. He gives Frank what they also believe is Valium to try to calm him down and Jeff tells them it's not Valium.

While Jeff and Norman, who are supposed to be watching Frank, get distracted by Uncle Russell (Danny Glover), Frank jumps off the coffee table and hits his head. With Aaron, Ryan, Jeff and Norman believing Frank is dead, they plan to put him in the coffin. While everyone is outside watching the naked Oscar on the roof threatening to jump because he saw Elaine unwillingly get kissed by Derek (Luke Wilson), Aaron and Ryan put Frank in the coffin.

Elaine calms Oscar down by revealing she is pregnant. With everyone back inside, they continue the eulogy. While Aaron awkwardly tries to do his speech, Frank starts banging on the coffin and suddenly emerges from it. The pictures fall out of his pocket and Cynthia sees the pictures, screams, calls Frank a bastard, and starts to attack him. Aaron yells for everyone's attention as he tells them that his father was a good man with flaws like everyone else.

The film ends with Aaron and Ryan saying goodbye while Ryan gets a ride to the airport by little Martina (Regine Nehy), who Ryan has been trying to seduce all day. Aaron and Michelle are finally alone and going to try to have a baby. Aaron asks where Uncle Russell is and Michelle tells him that she gave him what she believes is Valium to calm him down. In the final scene Uncle Russell is on the roof naked (like Uncle Alfie in the original film) complaining about how "everything is just so f***ing green".

Cast

• Chris Rock as Aaron Barnes
• Martin Lawrence as Ryan Barnes
• Regina Hall as Michelle Barnes
• Columbus Short as Jeff Barnes
• Zoe Saldana as Elaine Barnes
• Loretta Devine as Cynthia Barnes
• James Marsden as Oscar
• Ron Glass as Dr. Duncan Barnes
• Danny Glover as Russell "Uncle Russell" Barnes
• Peter Dinklage as Frank Lovett
• Tracy Morgan as Norman
• Luke Wilson as Derek
• Keith David as Reverend Davis
• Regine Nehy as Martina
• Kevin Hart as Brian
• Robert Lee Minor as Edward Barnes

Reception

Critical reception to the film was generally negative to mixed with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 38% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 119 reviews. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating of 0-100 from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 51 based on 22 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ out of 4 stars, saying "Here's the best comedy since The Hangover," and that "a lot of Death at a Funeral is in very bad taste. That's when I laughed the most."

External links

• Official website
• Death at a Funeral at the Internet Movie Database
• Death at a Funeral at AllRovi
• Death at a Funeral at Rotten Tomatoes
• Death at a Funeral at Box Office Mojo