Death at a Funeral (2007)

Chaos ensues when a man tries to expose a dark secret regarding a recently deceased patriarch of a dysfunctional British family.

Director:

Frank Oz

Writer:

Dean Craig

Stars:

Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Dinklage, Ewen Bremner

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Macfadyen	...	Daniel (as Matthew MacFadyen)
Keeley Hawes	...	Jane
Andy Nyman	...	Howard
Ewen Bremner	...	Justin
Daisy Donovan	...	Martha
Alan Tudyk	...	Simon
Jane Asher	...	Sandra
Kris Marshall	...	Troy
Rupert Graves	...	Robert
Peter Vaughan	...	Uncle Alfie
Thomas Wheatley	...	The Reverend
Peter Egan	...	Victor
Peter Dinklage	...	Peter
Brendan O'Hea	...	Undertaker
Jeremy Booth	...	Mourner

Storyline

Daniel is a decent young man, married to Jane, still living at his father's home. When his father dies, it is up to him to organize his funeral. On this painful morning, the suitable grave expression on his face, Daniel is ready to welcome his father's friends and relatives. But preserving the dignity inherent in such circumstances will be a hard task. Particularly with an undertaker who botches his work, the return from the USA of his famous but selfish brother, his cousin's fiancé who has accidentally ingested drugs, the presence a moron who takes advantage of the sad event to win back the heart (or rather the body) of a woman who is about to marry another, of a handicapped old uncle who is also the most unbearable pain in the neck. To cap it all, Daniel notices the presence among the mourners of a mysterious dwarf nobody else seems to know...

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Plot Keywords:

dark comedy | black comedy | ensemble cast | ensemble comedy | ensemble film | 

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Taglines:

Last rites... and wrongs.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and drug content

Details

Country:

USA Germany UK Netherlands

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death at a Funeral

Filming Locations:

Poynatts Manor, Skirmett, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,282,973, 19 August 2007

Gross USA:

$8,579,684

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Parabolic Pictures Inc., Stable Way Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Uncle Alfie is played by Peter Vaughan who also played Mr Helpmann in Brazil, another elderly wheelchair-bound gentleman who needs to be helped in the toilet by the protagonist in a memorable scene.

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Goofs

If Uncle Alfie was confined to a wheelchair, how did he get onto the roof?

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Quotes

[first lines]
Daniel: [giving instructions to the pallbearers] Just, uh, straight through there and to the left, please.

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits give the name of each performer with a blooper shot of them cracking up during filming.

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Connections

References Cleopatra (1934)

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Soundtracks

Love Our Time Today
Performed by Yamit Mamo
Written by Murray Gold

User Reviews

quality humour

It's been ages since I had such a good time enjoying a movie. While other movies about dysfunctional families are so dramatic and serious, Death at a Funeral makes things brighter and funnier even at a funeral. The characters are not complex, but various - an accidentally drugged men, a hurting widow, a famous writer and his brother who cannot escape the other one's glorious shade, a hypochondric young men, a sever father, a sour old men, a homosexual blackmailer... and much, much chaos. This antithesis between life, with its different forms of manifestation, and death makes Death at a Funeral a juicy mild-black comedy.