[DEATH AT A FUNERAL screens Friday February 4th at 7pm, 9pm and 11pm at the Case Western Reserve University Film Society in the Strosacker Auditorium.]
Review by Charles Cassady Jr.
The DEATH AT A FUNERAL showing this weekend courtesy of the CWRU Film Society is not the competent but unnecessary "Americanized" version of two years back, directed by Neil LaBute with a largely-black cast. This one is the 2007 original, directed by the oft-underrated Frank Oz (who, despite a solid c.v. of films with the Muppets, Bill Murray, Steve Martin and even Robert DeNiro, will never be forgiven by the geekiarchy for that STEPFORD WIVES remake). Fleeing Hollywood, Oz works here in his native England with a mostly UK ensemble, settings and vibe that evoke the flavor of stuff you might remember being produced by George Harrison's illustrious Handmade Films back in the 1980s, maybe with a Python or two in the cast. The late Graham Chapman would have fit in particularly well (and not necessarily in the coffin).
The DEATH AT A FUNERAL showing this weekend courtesy of the CWRU Film Society is not the competent but unnecessary "Americanized" version of two years back, directed by Neil LaBute with a largely-black cast. This one is the 2007 original, directed by the oft-underrated Frank Oz (who, despite a solid c.v. of films with the Muppets, Bill Murray, Steve Martin and even Robert DeNiro, will never be forgiven by the geekiarchy for that STEPFORD WIVES remake). Fleeing Hollywood, Oz works here in his native England with a mostly UK ensemble, settings and vibe that evoke the flavor of stuff you might remember being produced by George Harrison's illustrious Handmade Films back in the 1980s, maybe with a Python or two in the cast. The late Graham Chapman would have fit in particularly well (and not necessarily in the coffin). 