Death at a funeral

Nov 2 2007 Evening Chronicle

FRANK Oz’s very British black comedy of secrets from beyond the grave harks back to glorious farces of the 1940s and 50s, with a distinctly modern sensibility: narcotic-fuelled hallucinations, gratuitous nudity and illicit sexual dalliances.

Upper lips are suitably stiff, though sadly not the drinks, causing the not-so-merry widow to defer the umpteenth offer of Earl Grey and sympathy: “Tea can do many things dear, but it can’t bring back the dead!”

The humour errs towards the predictable and there’s a whiff of desperation in the middle section of the film as screenwriter Dean Craig engineers increasingly loopy set-ups for laughs, almost severing any ties to reality.

Having unleashed chaos, the temptation to neatly resolve various emotional crises proves too great. The resolution, like the copious cups of soothing hot tea, is excessively sweet.

When their father dies, Daniel (Macfadyen) and his successful novelist brother Robert (Graves) rush to the side of their mother, Sandra (Asher), who is barely clinging on to her sanity.

Cousin Martha (Donovan) and her fiance Simon (Tudyk), and Daniel’s wife Jane (Hawes) lend invaluable support while hypochondriac pal Howard (Nyman) discusses the newfound “pigment mutation“ on his extremities and cantankerous wheelchair user Uncle Alfie (Vaughan) kicks up a stink.

The sombre mood is shattered when a stranger called Peter (Dinklage) discloses a shocking secret about the deceased that threatens to tear the clan apart.

Scriptwriter Craig generously shares around the one-liners, but some of the cast invariably embellish with scene-stealing abandon, including Nyman as the twittering worrywart and Vaughan as the elderly grouch.

However, they all pale next to Tudyk, the sole American in the cast, who is the butt (quite literally) of the film’s more outlandish twists and turns.

You have to admire Tudyk’s bare-faced cheek(s) as his character startles the guests with another surreal outburst.

(15, 90 mins) Comedy/Drama. Matthew Macfadyen, Rupert Graves, Jane Asher, Keeley Hawes, Daisy Donovan, Alan Tudyk, Ewen Bremner, Kris Marshall, Andy Nyman, Peter Vaughan, Peter Dinklage, Peter Egan. Director: Frank Oz.

SWEARING; NO SEX; VIOLENCE