Directed by Neil LaBute
(R)
*
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The only thing you’ll be mourning after seeing this remake of Frank Oz’s British farce is the “death of a good movie,” said Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. Only three years after the release of the original Death at a Funeral, this comedy about a family that reconvenes for a patriarch’s burial has been adapted for American audiences. Neil LaBute, who signed on as director, moved the story’s setting to California and changed the characters from stuffy Brits to boisterous African-Americans. But other than that, the film is basically a shot-by-shot remake, said Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter. It even has the same screenwriter, Dean Craig. Chris Rock leads a “stellar cast” that includes Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, and just about “every other black performer not in a Tyler Perry movie.” But none of them can save this film from the “utter transparency of its plot mechanics.” LaBute probably deserves the most blame for this pointless desecration, said Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times. A director known for having a “serious mean streak,” he lacks the light touch needed for farce.
