Disorder cracks through a funeral as through a thin sheet of ice as a nephew neglects his pill bottle and others dispense its "valium" to I think three thought to be in need of valium, but definitely not of the LSD tablets the bottle actually contains. One of those "in need" is a short stranger who attends the funeral hoping to profit by revealing a dark secret regarding the recently deceased family patriarch. Among our favorite British actors in this romp: Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Andy Nyman, Alan Tudyk, Jane Asher, Rupert Graves, Peter Vaughan, and Peter Egan.
Since watching it, I've thought of two other fairly recent English comedies that were really fun: Waking Ned Devine [1998: Kirk Jones, with Ian Bannen] and Dean Spanley [2008, Toa Fraser, with Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, Peter O'Toole, and Art Malik]. Needless to say, I highly recommend all of these films.
To help me remember other recent English comedies I might not be remembering, I visited filmcrave.com's list of "Top 100 Comedies," but was surprised to see none of the films mentioned above listed there.
I had to ask myself, What is special about these films that appeals to my wife and me (and to a great many others who I know have enjoyed various ones of them)?
I'm not sure. Could it be their very Englishness? Their dry delivery, its realism, not a play for any laugh, but laughter abounding?
By the way, a remake of Death at a Funeral was released in 2010, directed by Neil LaBute, with Keith David, Loretta Devine, Danny Glover, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, and Luke Wilson)—definitely not English. I haven't seen it and can make no recommendation.
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We watched Death at a Funeral by way of Netflix instant download.
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