Death at a Funeral 2007

Frank Oz (The Stepford Wives, Bowfinger) changes direction here with this riotous film which takes us back to the days of Ealing comedies. Matthew Macfadyen (In My Father’s Den) plays Daniel, who’s returned home for the funeral of his father. As the most responsible member of a chaotic and dysfunctional family, he’s busily trying to keep it all together while everything around him spins further and further out of control. Things start off badly when the wrong coffin arrives at the house, get worse when his successful but reckless novelist brother Robert (Rupert Graves) tells him he’s got no cash to help pay for the funeral, and slide even further downhill when his sister’s new boyfriend accidentally takes some hallucinogens. However, when a mysterious dwarf takes him aside at the funeral to reveal a secret about his father, things really begin to plummet. Oz’s characters are pitch perfect, notably Alan Tudyk as the stoned brother-in-law. Death at a Funeral is one of the most fun British comedies we’ve seen in a very long time.