Death at a Funeral

Starring Rupert Graves, Matthew MacFadyen, and Peter Dinklage. Rated 14A. Opens Friday, October 19, at the Cinemark Tinseltown

"Tea can do many things, but it can't bring back the dead," the widow of the deceased dryly observes in the perfectly deranged Death at a Funeral. The widow is played by the excellent Jane Asher, who was engaged to Paul McCartney so far back in history that his most recent ex wasn't born yet. British farce is a tad older than that erstwhile romance, but this exceptionally jolly Death wears its timeworn knickers well and takes its tea very black.

In director Frank Oz's return to funny (after his misstep with The Stepford Wives), the classic genre has been aged to an exact, familiar silliness, then tweaked with enough accidental drug use, inappropriate nakedness, and sinister dwarves to make it feel positively giddy again. Uninvited guests and skeletons in closets help the Muppet master and writer Dean Craig reel out a series of spot-on wicked gags (including some spectacularly insane ones), building a perfect storm of slapstick.

The audience mostly sees the strings before they're pulled, but not so the film's dysfunctional upper-middle-crusters, assembled at a country house for a respected patriarch's funeral. They take the jabs smack on their stiff upper lips. There's responsible son Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen), a wannabe writer stuck with the funeral bill, and irresponsible novelist son Robert (Rupert Graves), who has left his Manhattan penthouse and flown in first-class. Cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is officially introducing fiancé Simon (Alan Tudyk) to the family, making him so nervous that Martha poaches a Valium from brother Troy (Kris Marshall). Trouble is, Troy is a freelance "pharmacist", and Simon has swallowed a concoction of acid, mescaline, and more. Meanwhile, Daniel's hypochondriac pal, Howard (Andy Nyman), is saddled with tyrannical Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan, in a wheelchair). Enter the dwarf (Peter Dinklage).

The dwarf has a secret about the deceased. Chaos ensues: people run in and out of rooms, hiding things; there are blackmail threats and tussles; the coffin and the dead man get involved; people roam rooftops; clothes are shed; and there is an extended incontinence problem. The actors, all pratfalls and deadpans, are gleefully on their game.

Even the dead guy has amazing focus.

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