Remakes Galore: "Death at a Funeral"

There are probably very few people who knew that the new 2010 movie "Death at a Funeral" is actually a remake of the 2007 British movie "Death at a Funeral." I certainly didn't. A few months ago while at a theater to see "Up in the Air," the preview for the remake came up and I'll be completely honest: I thought it looked funny. It definitely had a ton of famous names in it and I'm game for any movie where James Marsden runs around crazy and nude (No offense to Alan Tudyk, who played the original role, but you are no James Marsden). When I came home later that night, I looked up the film on Wikipedia for some reason and noticed that it already existed. Then I noticed that it starred Matthew Macfayden, Keeley Hawes, and Alan Tudyk. The former two are pretty famous English actors who starred in one of my favorite shows, "MI-5" ("Spooks" to any Brits following along). Macfayden also starred as Mr. Darcy in the most recent big screen adaptation of "Pride & Prejudice." Alan Tudyk is an American actor (who does a great English accent) who is probably most famous for being Wash on "Firefly" and the movie "Serenity." So, with a decent premise and cast in mind, I decided to rent the original. I have to say, I really loved it. Tudyk is fantastic as a character who is high out of his mind most of the movie. The rest of the cast impressed me as well and they all worked together quite nicely.

But once again, I'm hesitant about a remake (Go figure, huh?). As one reviewer pointed out about the original, one of the things that makes the movie so hilarious is its essential Britishness. Tudyk even points this out during the excellent commentary. It's fun to watch such wildly inappropriate occurences at a funeral with people who are supposed to be on their very best behavior. The humor in the original movie is very British, in my opinion. They take their time to set up a lot of jokes and it really pays off in the end. So I'm very curious as to how that translates into an American film. Like I said, I laughed at the trailer for the remake, and I'd still like to see it, in all honesty. I really do think they could remake that movie for American tastes and still make a good film, if they handle it smartly. Or, they could have copied the original scene-for-scene, added some race jokes and gay jokes and made it loud and stupid.

Ultimate verdict? See the remake if you don't mind spending the cash, but I can recommend the original movie wholeheartedly.