Okay, I tried to give this movie a decent, if not good review. I really tried! I even forced J.G. to watch it with me - knowing that he walked out of it in the theaters. I mean, a cast with Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Kevin Hart, Danny Glover, Zoe Saldana, etc.? God, help me, I really tried. But, alas, I could not.
"Death at a Funeral" a remake of the 2007 British movie, was, for me, one of the biggest disappointing movies of this year. It's about a son (Rock), who has to preside over the funeral of his father, while simultaneously trying to step out of the shadow of his famous brother (Lawrence) and deal with the many unbelievable mishaps that happen before, during, and at the conclusion of these services. I can't go into more detail about the plot, because, well, I wasn't really paying attention. The movie was so bland and unfunny, I kept forgetting I was watching it. I cleaned up; logged onto Facebook; even got a head start on my 2010 taxes - all while trying to force myself to sit through the entire 92 minutes it took for this train-wreck to end. The only time I became genuinely interested in this movie, was to figure out how and why Regina Hall's skin kept getting lighter in every scene.
So, since I can't say much about the storyline, let me spend the rest of this review talking about the actors. Hmmmm...geewhiz...where should I start? Well, Loretta Devine is Loretta Devine is...Loretta Devine. No surprises here. She plays the same consistently likeable character in every movie, and she was the only one that didn't disappoint me. Chris Rock did the least amount of yelling that I've seen him do in any movie, but, strangely enough, it was a little creepy. He was almost too subdued for himself.
Martin Lawrence acted as if he was stuck in the 90's. The same facial expressions. The same dated jokes. He reminded me of his TV character so much, I half expected him to refer to himself as "Ol' Marty-Mar".
James Marsden (Cyclops from the X-Men movies) spends half of the movie high off of acid that he and everyone else mistakes for Valium. A third of that time, he embarrassingly spends naked on the roof - his legs and thighs so hairy, he looks like a wild-eyed satyr (that drunk and horny man-goat thingy from Greek mythology). Tracy Morgan plays the same, lovable dummy he plays in all his movies (save for the varying degrees of mental retardation.) It's a wonder why they listen to him when, after hog-tying the secret, dwarf, gay-lover of the deceased father (yes, it comes to that), he suggests that they force-feed him the "Valium" that he found in a bottle outside. (Off-The-Cuff-Rant: Why does almost everyone in this movie mistake this bottle of acid for Valium. Did the label on the bottle say "Valium"? Seriously, I'm asking because, I didn't care enough to rewind. Even if it did, who gives prescription Valium from some unknown person to another person for any reason that doesn't involve homicide? Okay, I'm done.) Everyone else is just bad and not at all worth mentioning.
With this much talent involved, I don't know how "Death at a Funeral" 2010 happened the way it did. The only person I feel sorry for is not Danny Glover (he should know better), but Ron Glass (From TV's "Barney Miller and "Amen") I know somewhere in director Neil Labute's coercion of Ron to act in this movie, were the words "You know, you're not getting any younger..."
In the end, the only purpose this movie served was to make me ask myself the question "Was Luke Wilson ever funny???"
"Death at a Funeral" is more than just unentertaining. It's unforgettable. And with a cast this talented and this funny, that makes this tragedy - almost - unforgivable.
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