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Recent releases:
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Death at a Funeral (2010)
Stars: Chris Rock, Zoe Saldaña, Martin Lawrence, James Marsden, Columbus Short, Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, Luke Wilson, Regina King, Peter Dinklage
Director: Neil Labute
Lord knows why black Hollywood wanted to do this almost exact remake of a 2007 UK turkey about blackmail and hallucinogenic drugs creating havoc, now at a would-be traditional American funeral. Marginally less agonising than the original, the film is still an ordeal to sit through.
Rock straitjackets himself into the role of the serious older brother who has not managed to produce a grandchild for his mother (Loretta Devine) and still envies the younger-by-a-few-months brother (Lawrence) who has published the novels to which he himself aspired.
Small person Frank (Dinklage, reproducing his role from the abominable original), turns up to reveal he was the brothers' late father's lover and threatens to show Mom photos unless they cough up 30,000 doillars.
Meanwhile Uncle Russell (Glover) spends half the film on the loo, and Oscar (Marsden), fiancé of Elaine (Saldaña) gets naked on the roof after taking the aforementioned drugs in mistake for something else. The actors, stand-up comics mostly, do their best, but laughs are harder to find than a four-leafed clover.
David Quinlan
USA 2010. UK Distributor: Sony (Screen Gems). Colour by deluxe.
93 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.
Review date: 28 May 2010