Cauldron

Issue date: 8/28/07 Section: A & E

Media Credit: Sidney Kimmel Entertainment Film star Michael Macfadyen plays a son trying to let his father rest in peace.

With Anglomania on the rise and my own slight obsession with entertainment from the United Kingdom, I was excited to see a lower-budget British comedy appear amid the summer blockbusters. Directed by Frank Oz, best known as the voice of Yoda, "Death at a Funeral" explains just why many American television shows are copies of British predecessors.

In this film, it is amazing exactly how much goes so humorously wrong in only a few hours time in one house. The tone is set from the first scene when a coffin arrives only to have Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) say, "That's not my father." Scrambling back out, the coffin bearers rush to the hearse to find the correct body. The opening credits roll and you know you are in for an interesting day.

Every family has its characters, and quirkiness runs rampant in this delightful film. Daniel is a loving son trying to give his dead father a respectable funeral service, but he struggles with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who constantly pushes to buy a flat in London, and his brother, Robert (Rupert Graves), who steals the spotlight as a successful novelist.

Additionally, Martha (Daisy Donovan) is engaged to Simon (Alan Tudyk), who makes a bad impression after Martha's pharmacist brother Troy's (Kris Marshall) hides illegal drugs in a Valium bottle. This comedy would not be complete without a scandalous affair, nudity, multiple drug-induced hallucinations, a one-night stand that refuses to end, an unfortunate nerd and, naturally, a standard diarrhea joke.

In such character-driven comedy, the acting must be stellar for the overall piece to work. The underrated cast in "Death at a Funeral" delivers just what is needed to keep the audience laughing or in the appropriate state of righteous shock. Tudyk steals the show with his hilarious performance as a man trying to gain his fiancée's father's approval who fails miserably after mistakenly taking acid. The actor strikes a perfect chord, managing to be outrageously funny without being annoying and over-the-top.

Macfadyen, famous for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice," plays the leading straight man nicely. He adds the touch of heart needed to tone down the film's crude comedy. Hawes, married to Macfadyen both on-screen and off, sadly adds little to the film. After her wonderful performance as Lady Macbeth in a modern adaptation, she may want to stick to dramas and being the voice of Lara Croft.

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