This review was written for the theatrical release of "Death at a Funeral".At its best, British farce should seem effortless. In "Death at a Funeral", the effort shows. Subplots are contrived and relationships pat. Yet this topsy-turvy funeral produces a number of smiles, giggles, pleasant guffaws and several solid, sustained laughs. Not a bad batting average as comedies go.
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
At its best, British farce should seem effortless. In Death at a Funeral, the effort shows. Subplots are contrived and relationships pat. Yet this topsy-turvy funeral produces a number of smiles, giggles, pleasant guffaws and several solid, sustained laughs. Not a bad batting average as comedies go.
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From its opening shot of the Manhattan skyline to its soft-pop soundtrack, The Wedding Date signals movie romance of the effervescent kind. Familiar but never overly broad, this well-cast, crowd-pleasing comedy benefits from a low-key emphasis on character over high jinks. Despite the stock feel of many of its characters and a sometimes laughably obvious script, the film has an energetic grace, directed with fluid efficiency by Clare Kilner. Wedding, which should click especially with females, looks destined for a date with solid boxoffice.
Debra Messing stars as Kat, a New York-based airline employee on her way to London for her half-sister's wedding. In order to convince her family and her ex-fiance -- best man at the upscale shindig -- that she's deliriously happy and not still gazing wistfully at the ring he gave her more than two years ago, she hires a male escort as her dream date. Himbo Nick (Dermot Mulroney), who has all the self-confidence Kat lacks, makes it clear that, for an additional sum, the business transaction can include services of a more intimate nature. She's shocked, just shocked.
When Kat's American mother (Holland Taylor) and English stepdad (Peter Egan) open-mindedly put the visiting couple in one room, it prompts a 21st-century version of the Wall of Jericho in It Happened One Night: a barrier of pillows between them in the bed they share. Like all such walls, it's built for toppling; by the time she's indulged in a night of drunken bachelorette-bash revelry, Kat has all but forgotten about ex Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield).
Kat tells anyone who asks that Nick is a therapist -- the joke being that he is, in a way, breathing you-go-girl affirmations in her ear with knee-weakening expertise. As an unsure gal who would withdraw $6,000 from her 401(k) in order to play-act romantic bliss, Messing is convincing and likable. But Kat isn't the only one play-acting here. Over the course of a week's worth of luxe nuptial dinners, picnics and parties, the wedding couple (well played by Amy Adams and Jack Davenport) are headed on a sure path from picture-book romance to major revelation. In the romantic comedy scheme of things, the repercussions of that twist are momentary at best.
Messing ("Will & Grace") brings a sweet, self-deprecating humor and impressive gift for physical comedy to her first big-screen lead. Limited here by the smoldering restraint he's called upon to deliver, the talented Mulroney more than fits the bill as the sexiest man money can buy. If this hunk-for-hire with a comp lit degree from Brown doesn't seem quite convinced spouting simplistic pearls of ostensible wisdom ("Every woman has exactly the love life she wants"), there's no question that he was a way with a raised eyebrow.
Dana Fox's script, based on the novel Asking for Trouble by Elizabeth Young, offers no shortage of cliches, the most unfortunate being the hackneyed role of the single, sex-obsessed woman who provides comic relief (which Sarah Parish nonetheless puts over with verve).
Wedding just barely dusts the spiderwebs off formula tricks, but Kilner (How to Deal) keeps the party moving. All of it plays out with mild Brit conviviality -- the booze bill alone for this week of nuptial excess could keep a developing country afloat. DP Oliver Curtis and production designer Tom Burton showcase the posh London and Surrey County locations, and costumer Louise Page outfits the cast with a frothy sense of elegance.
THE WEDDING DATE
Universal Pictures and Gold Circle Films
26 Films Prods.
Credits:
Director: Clare Kilner
Screenwriter: Dana Fox
Based on the book Asking for Trouble by: Elizabeth Young
Producers: Nathalie Marciano, Michelle Chydzik Sowa, Jessica Bendinger, Paul Brooks
Executive producers: Norm Waitt, Scott Niemeyer, Steve Robbins, Jim Reeve
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Tom Burton
Music: Blake Neely
Co-producer: Jeff Levine
Costume designer: Louise Page
Editor: Mary Finlay
Cast:
Kat Ellis: Debra Messing
Nick Mercer: Dermot Mulroney
Amy: Amy Adams
Edward Fletcher-Wooten: Jack Davenport
TJ: Sarah Parish
Jeffrey: Jeremy Sheffield
Victor: Peter Egan
Bunny: Holland Taylor
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 88 minutes...
Debra Messing stars as Kat, a New York-based airline employee on her way to London for her half-sister's wedding. In order to convince her family and her ex-fiance -- best man at the upscale shindig -- that she's deliriously happy and not still gazing wistfully at the ring he gave her more than two years ago, she hires a male escort as her dream date. Himbo Nick (Dermot Mulroney), who has all the self-confidence Kat lacks, makes it clear that, for an additional sum, the business transaction can include services of a more intimate nature. She's shocked, just shocked.
When Kat's American mother (Holland Taylor) and English stepdad (Peter Egan) open-mindedly put the visiting couple in one room, it prompts a 21st-century version of the Wall of Jericho in It Happened One Night: a barrier of pillows between them in the bed they share. Like all such walls, it's built for toppling; by the time she's indulged in a night of drunken bachelorette-bash revelry, Kat has all but forgotten about ex Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield).
Kat tells anyone who asks that Nick is a therapist -- the joke being that he is, in a way, breathing you-go-girl affirmations in her ear with knee-weakening expertise. As an unsure gal who would withdraw $6,000 from her 401(k) in order to play-act romantic bliss, Messing is convincing and likable. But Kat isn't the only one play-acting here. Over the course of a week's worth of luxe nuptial dinners, picnics and parties, the wedding couple (well played by Amy Adams and Jack Davenport) are headed on a sure path from picture-book romance to major revelation. In the romantic comedy scheme of things, the repercussions of that twist are momentary at best.
Messing ("Will & Grace") brings a sweet, self-deprecating humor and impressive gift for physical comedy to her first big-screen lead. Limited here by the smoldering restraint he's called upon to deliver, the talented Mulroney more than fits the bill as the sexiest man money can buy. If this hunk-for-hire with a comp lit degree from Brown doesn't seem quite convinced spouting simplistic pearls of ostensible wisdom ("Every woman has exactly the love life she wants"), there's no question that he was a way with a raised eyebrow.
Dana Fox's script, based on the novel Asking for Trouble by Elizabeth Young, offers no shortage of cliches, the most unfortunate being the hackneyed role of the single, sex-obsessed woman who provides comic relief (which Sarah Parish nonetheless puts over with verve).
Wedding just barely dusts the spiderwebs off formula tricks, but Kilner (How to Deal) keeps the party moving. All of it plays out with mild Brit conviviality -- the booze bill alone for this week of nuptial excess could keep a developing country afloat. DP Oliver Curtis and production designer Tom Burton showcase the posh London and Surrey County locations, and costumer Louise Page outfits the cast with a frothy sense of elegance.
THE WEDDING DATE
Universal Pictures and Gold Circle Films
26 Films Prods.
Credits:
Director: Clare Kilner
Screenwriter: Dana Fox
Based on the book Asking for Trouble by: Elizabeth Young
Producers: Nathalie Marciano, Michelle Chydzik Sowa, Jessica Bendinger, Paul Brooks
Executive producers: Norm Waitt, Scott Niemeyer, Steve Robbins, Jim Reeve
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Tom Burton
Music: Blake Neely
Co-producer: Jeff Levine
Costume designer: Louise Page
Editor: Mary Finlay
Cast:
Kat Ellis: Debra Messing
Nick Mercer: Dermot Mulroney
Amy: Amy Adams
Edward Fletcher-Wooten: Jack Davenport
TJ: Sarah Parish
Jeffrey: Jeremy Sheffield
Victor: Peter Egan
Bunny: Holland Taylor
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 88 minutes...
- 2/23/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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