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Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Dinklage, Ewen Bremner, Rupert Graves. Comedy. Written by Dean Craig. Directed by Frank Oz.

FILM SYNOPSIS: This English dark comedy concerns a gay guy showing up at the funeral of a family man he claims was his secret lover. This causes tension among members of the dysfunctional family, who take drastic measures when he threatens blackmail.

PREVIEW REVIEW: At first I was reminded of the staid but outlandish English comedies of the 1950s, those satirical films released by Ealing Studios, which usually starred Peter Sellers and/or Alec Guinness. Like those pictures, Death at a Funeral contains a premise ripe for understated, mocking humor. Alas, it’s a different time and filmmakers and many filmgoers are more entertained the more a film becomes obsessed with crudeness. The humor quickly dwindles into lazy R-rated rudeness, much of it generated from shock value (“I can’t believe I just saw that.”). For instance, there’s the casket falling, the body tumbling out before an astonished group of mourners; a man accidentally getting stoned and taking off his clothes in front of said mourners; and the enfeebled old man needing help onto a toilet. That scene leads to the most graphic depiction of excrement I can remember seeing in a movie. As gross as that sounds, a pretty, stylish-looking young woman sitting behind me laughed with the intensity of one who has just heard Abbott & Costello’s "Who’s On First". Different strokes.

Video Alternatives: Each of the following was made by Ealing Studios in the 1950s and contains irreverent but understated sophisticated humor and reminds us that comedy need not come solely from anatomical and scatological graphicness. Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, and The Ladykillers (the 1955 version – not the Tom Hanks remake of a few years back).

Distributor: MGM