Death at a Funeral
Well now … had you told me I’d watch Superbad and this today I would’ve thought I could put money on which I’d enjoy more. But wow … I guess I can’t say the title didn’t warn me? This movie reminded me of the sequence in Little Miss Sunshine with the dead body … I knew I was supposed to be laughing … but I couldn’t. This is just bad gags all the way, like an embarrassing relative getting too drunk and standing up at a gathering and going on and on not realising that nothing he’s saying is funny and worse, it’s actually getting a little upsetting and disturbing. And I know that’s meant to be kind of what the movie is doing … but it comes over in the worst way – it’s too close to the real thing. My stomach dropped so much in places I thought it was six feet under. It’s just rotten. It’s bad in a way that doesn’t even deserve this paragraph’s worth of attention. It reminded me of the play in Noises Off! ... but again, in the worst way. Only the last line made me crack a smile, and it’s the kind of thing that can be found in plenty of better places.
Addendum: I actually was just reminded as I found the poster for this movie to put with the post, how Frank Oz directed the wonderful In and Out and the beautiful Bowfinger. I knew as the movie started that Frank Oz’s name always made me glow inside but all I could remember (aside from the Muppets and Yoda of course) was Little Shop of Horrors. These two reminders make the whole thing taste even more bitter.