'Death at a Funeral'

'Death at a Funeral' (R) **1/2

Writer: Dean Craig based on his own screenplay
Director: Neil Labute
Starring: Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Loretta Devine, Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Martin Lawrence, Keith David, Ron Glass, Peter Dinklage, Columbus Short, Regina Hall

The new "Death at a Funeral" is a remake of a 2007 British comedy directed by Frank Oz. I liked that movie and it's comedy and I kind of remember what happened. It was a good, minor comedy with good laughs but not that memorable. I think it is a good ideal and a bad one to remake this movie. It is a wise choice to remake this with a mostly all black cast of actors to give an ethnic view of what strange things can happen at a funeral. It is not so good for the ones who have seen the other version because you can see most of the laughs coming. I laughed a lot during the first half hour of this new version and all the actors are wonderful here. The problem was I got tired of the movie after a little bit but still loved watching this cast. The plot deals mostly with a dysfunctional family getting together for a patriarch's funeral and the bad things that happen. This is a fast paced movie with a lot of screwball moments. The cast sells it a lot with a great straight turn by Chris Rock who always has good reaction shots to crazy things happening around him. Martin Lawrence is very good and finally gives a performance without mugging. Danny Glover and Tracy Morgan are hilarious insulting each other. Zoe Saldana is proving to be a good actress besides being eye candy. You will see a lot of her in the next year which is a good thing because she is very easy on the eyes and she can act. Peter Dinklage is the only holdover from the original and I love Peter Dinklage because he is consistently good in every movie he is in. The funniest performance is given by James Marsden who gives a hilarious performance as a funeral goer hooked on hallucinogens. His scenes with Columbus Short and Saldana are well played and Marsden is surprising me with his funny performances lately. Everyone is in top form and the movie is fair but I have seen it before so the jokes were not much of a surprise to me. If you haven't seen the original I do believe you should check this out on DVD.