Death at a Funeral review

Death at a Funeral (15, 92 mins)
Director: Neil LaBute
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

As remakes go this has to be one of the strangest; an American re-run of a British comedy that came out less than three years ago which, though nearly identical in plot, has managed to lose everything that was good or funny about the original. It’s set entirely at a funeral where the extended family has gathered to bury Chris Rock’s father. The trouble starts when one of the guests (James Marsden, getting reasonable mileage) inadvertently takes a hallucinogenic pill and Peter Dinklage, reprising his role from the original, turns up to throw an unexpected spanner in the works. What should be high farce is botched in execution by a thoroughly bizarre choice of director in Neil LaBute, not exactly known for his lightness of touch. So it’s leaden when it should zip, timing is entirely absent and every burst of unfunny physicality is punctuated by a sitcom score. It’s broad, infinitely unsubtle and everything is dreadfully forced, not helped by some actors (Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan and Danny Glover being the worst offenders) mugging and screeching for all they're worth.

Cop Out review

Cop Out (15, 107 mins)
Director: Kevin Smith
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Straight out cop-buddy flicks seem to have gone out of fashion, so it’s a surprise to see a real 80s throwback like Cop Out. Then again it’s so clichéd it might actually be a parody, as Bruce Willis and 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan play a pair of cops taking on a big drugs case who don’t do things by the book, beat suspects, argue with their captain and end up suspended. This is the first time Kevin Smith has directed a film he hasn’t also written and it’s, so he can only be blamed for the generic action if not the feeble dialogue. Smith doesn’t even appear to be trying half the time, allowing a screeching tone from the off, generated mostly by the idiotic Morgan behaving like a child. Willis and Morgan are a hard pair to dislike, but it’s all just so laboured, with subplots about Willis’ daughter’s wedding and Morgan thinking his wife is having an affair proving to be desperate distractions. Constant references to other, better action movies don’t help matters and there’s only the rarest of inspired moments to relieve the tedium.