But, I didn‚Äôt finish the British version because I could tell from the trailer of the new one that it had a ton of the same jokes in it. I really wanted some of this new incarnation to be fresh for me so I turned off that dry, unfunny British garbage. Don‚Äôt get me wrong I love a lot of British comedy. Hot Fuzz, Love Actually, Intermission, Gosford Park, Four Weddings and a Funeral… I mean, really that list could go on for a while. I do like some British comedy but in the case of Death at a Funeral, we American‚Äôs just do it better.

I mentioned a moment ago that the script is the same between the two movies, well, that’s true and not true. It’s true in the sense that the action is all the same, the plot points, the characters, even the dialogue for the most part. This new Death is better though because of all the verisimilitude in the dialogue with characters constantly talking over one another; lots of adlibbing etc. It just makes it so much more believable. But first, before I go on, here’s the story. Our hero, Aaron, is holding a funeral for his father who insisted his funeral be held at his own residence.  Aaron and his wife, Michelle (Regina Hall) have been living with Aaron’s parents to help pay the bills and save for their own place. Aaron’s brother, Ryan (Martin Lawrence) is an author and is never around and is an altogether douche bag. Their family is huge and they all get together for this funeral where nothing can possibly go right. The real crux is when they realize that their father had been sleeping with a midget and the midget wants what should have been left to him in the deceased’s will. He wants money. So far I haven’t given anything away that wasn’t in the trailers, so nothing is spoiled here. This is a true blue comedy from the start.

Chris Rock does a great job portraying the hard working brother. Martin Lawrence serves well as the sleazy, rich brother and all the other cast members work really well together making for a pretty hilarious slapstick comedy through to the end. I mean, the audience was going nuts throughout the entire movie. That says a lot.  There are several other stand-out performances in Death that shouldn’t go unnoticed. Zoey Saldana plays the “straight-man” character really well opposite James Marsden who is just balls out hilarious. A note about Marsden’s character: he is played by none other than Alan Tudyk in the 2007 version. I was very excited when I saw Tudyk playing the part because I love him in other features such as Serenity (and Firefly) as well as A Knight’s Tale, but he just didn’t even compare to Marsden’s portrayal of the accidentally drugged up fiancé to the Saldana character. Marsden needs to be in more comedies- end of story.  And there’s another thing, Sheperd Book (Ron Glass) was in the new Death! For all of you who do not know (and shame on you!), Sheperd Book was also in Firefly and Serenity. I just thought that was a crazy coincidence.  Another crazy coincidence that occurred this weekend was that we watched 10 Things I hate About You (1999) and I love Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew so, it was fun to watch the teen comedy remake again after all these years. But the coincidence is that the yellow house that Kat and Bianca live in is the very same YELLOW house where Frank black lived in in the TV series Millennium!!!! So, it’s just crazy coincidence that all these things I love share so many of the same things! Oh AND our very own b-gizzle, who avidly reads our reviews, is going to Seattle this very week where all of these movies/TV shows were filmed!!!!

Ok, so not all of them were filmed in Seattle but still. It had to be said. I love it when all the things I love end up having amazing connections with each other. It makes it seems like I was meant to love them. So, if you still have leftover spare change from when you went to see How to Train Your Dragon or Date Night, then you should definitely go see Death at a Funeral. It will make you laugh and it will almost definitely make you puke. You will enjoy it.

I really enjoyed my time in The Box. Sometimes, I’ll just sit around and think, “man, being in The Box was really sweet!” I wish the wife had come with me to The Box. For some reason, she’s just not into The Box. I’m sure some guys’ chicks are way into The Box. I wonder what that must be like…

Still there? I’m spent, here’s the review-

A word of caution- knowing practically anything about this film beyond what the trailers have already told you will diminish your viewing experience. For the sake of not ruining anything, here are my thoughts- the film works and the more I think about it the more I like it. It’s far from perfect and if you’ve not liked director Richard Kelly’s other films (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales), you’re going to find more of the same ambiguity and head spinning plot twists. But at the end of the day, it’s certainly one that could spark some conversations and kept me engaged from start to finish. For those of you who have already seen this movie or just don’t care about spoilers, read on for further analysis.

So the trailers show what looks like a Saw-esque scenario- normal people (played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) make selfish decisions and are then put to the test for not only their survival but that of their loved ones. A couple is presented with a box that has a single button. The man that presents the box, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), is horribly disfigured but gladly offers the consequences of pushing the button- they’ll recieve $1 million dollars with the only catch being that someone they do not know, somewhere in the world, will die as a result of the button being pushed. The button is pushed and the slow burn begins.

The first thing I’ll say is that if you have no patience, move along. This movie is very methodical and will even force you to infer most of the plot points along the way. I mean hell, at one point the main characters talk to each other, trying to determine what the fuck Steward actually meant. While I hate that sort of thing in giant summer blockbusters (I’m looking at you Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End), it really works in a thriller. I’ll be honest, I spent some time after the film trying to piece shit together. So I don’t feel like a total dumbass since even Cameron Diaz was lost.

But along with all of that, the film really kept me guessing. I think it’s safe to say that what plays out in the final 30 minutes would be rather difficult to ascertain from the previews. Yes, we know that Cyclops will be driving around with someone that knows what’s going on but the commercial wisely doesn’t tell us neither what’s going on nor what relationship that character has to our leads. I have to applaud the marketing team for creating an intriguing premise with the trailers without giving too much away. I’ve griped enough about film advertisements this year, I’ll move on.

One thing you can’t really glean from the promos either is the fact that the film is set in 1976. I won’t give away why but I thought it was very clever. It also made the vintage sheen applied to the film seem more authentic. And the whole thing starts off with this Hitchcockian feel , which slowly build into a Body Snatchers style paranoia. The setting and time period both help to authenticate these techniques and were very effective.

I couldn’t help but feel that one of the film’s stronger points not only works against it but will likely turn away a lot of potential fans. ¬†As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs, you really don’t get a flat out statement regarding what the fuck is going on. ¬†I’m still not exactly sure, but I think I have a pretty good idea. ¬†But I could tell that the crowd I watched the move with was just not buying it. ¬†So while I enjoy the occasional movie that doesn’t spoon feed me the script while I shovel popcorn into my belly, I can certainly see an argument made to the contrary. ¬†At least for me, it causes the film to stay with me longer. ¬†I thought about it for a good hour, trying to dissect everything. ¬†I dig shit like that. ¬†You may not.

So in the end, it’s a pretty cool flick that just misses the mark from being great. ¬†I quite liked it but I think for general audiences, they may be turned off by the slow paced nature and the fact that not everything is revealed. ¬†It’s been a good year for Science Fiction and this film continues the trend that¬†Moon and District 9 and started.