Death at a Funeral makes the baby Jesus cry.

imagine, if you will, a community theater that chooses a farce for their season. the farce has very low rights fees, a unit set, and everyone in the cast can wear their own clothes. there are some good actors and a solid director, so it doesn't entirely suck, but it's doomed by its very nature. at least it's doomed for me...


i pretty much hate social disaster comedies. if you loved those movies with Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro and the cat, run right out and see this. Alan Tudyk is a fine physical actor and much easier on the eyes.

i hate "humor" that involves human excrement.

i hate "hide the body" plots. i generally hate stories that put the characters in contrived situations and have them make self-serving choices that no sane person/group of people would make. (obviously, i'm no Seinfeld fan. as my brother says, "if they ever just told the truth, there would be no show.")

i really really liked seeing Alan Tudyk naked. he did great work, as did Peter Dinklage. they didn't make a huge deal out of Peter Dinklage's stature, which i appreciated.

the opening and closing credits were charming.

"Tea can do many things, Jane, but it can't bring back the dead."


skip it. two stars, one each for Alan Tudyk and Peter Dinklage.

edited to add: there was more love for this on the Fool Serious list. perception is a funny thing: other people thought there was a lot of laughter around them, and i thought the audience wasn't enjoying it enough. personal taste made this a non-starter...i didn't like Little Miss Sunshine either.