Death at a Funeral

Director Frank Oz nearly redeems himself after his disastrous "Stepford Wives" remake, with a British black comedy that goes over the top backwards. Wanna-be novelist Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) ambivalently gets ready for his recently deceased father’s funeral with the help of his distracted wife Jane (Keeley Hawes). But no amount of readiness could prepare Daniel for the mistakenly ingested drugs, attempted blackmail, corpse switching and bouts of nudity that attend the mansion-bound funerary services. Peter Dinklage adds his signature spice as a former gay lover to the deceased, intent on sharing in some financial reward of the closeted man’s passing. Inspired performances from the ensemble cast, including Ewan Bremner, Rupert Graves and Alan Tudyk, dispatch waves of laughter in this well-crafted dark comedy.

Rated R. 90 mins. (B+) (Four Stars)