Ryan McNeilI saw a trailer Saturday that left me a tad perplexed. I count myself a big fan of Frank Oz’s film DEATH AT A FUNERAL. The 2008 flick has a lot of dry British humour, features a brilliant bit of eccentric acting by Firefly alum Alan Tudyk, and even made my list of the top five Dysfunctional Family Movies. For a refresher, here’s the trailer…
Cue the perplexion (is that a word?). Chris Rock and his brood also count themselves as fans of the film…so much so, that a mere two years after its release, they have decided to remake it. WTF?? Has the cycle on remakes become that short? I realize that dry British humour, with a cast predominantly of lesser-knowns isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I repeat two years!! Even weirder is that they managed to somehow convince Peter Dinklage to reprise his role!!??
For better or for worse, here’s what’s in store…
I'm not so sure about this remake. It's an all-star cast, and will probably do better $$$-wise, but the original was pretty-darn funny, and this is from someone who doesn't really prefer "English" humour.
Um…that is not…WHY?! Really, people? Good grief.
I loved the original (not just 'cause of Tudyk's naked-nearly-the-whole-time genius).
Two years' cycle…would be better to just make a new trailer telling everyone to rent/buy the original, wouldn't it? Sheesh.
Oddness. Total oddness.
– McQzie
the remake trailer depressed me. I thought the original was good as it was, and I know just about everything gets a remake in some way, shape, or form but this reminds me a bit of flat out copy/paste. They used the same script (though obviously threw in some BET heavy stereotypical slang and Americanized the vocab). I just can't get behind these sort of films.
@ Caralyn… Wow, that's really saying something hearing that you prefer the Brit version! Y'know…given your affinity for accents and all.
@ McQzie… Gotta admit though…Marsden's channeling Wash quite nicely. He might make the whole thing worthwhile. Unless Frank Langhella shows up and offers him a box.
@ Univarn… It's kinda like they sat back and looked at the ABRES LOS OJOS/VANILLA SKY situation and wondered how they could one up them.
I watched both trailers again (yes, with sound this time) and decided that the best thing to do was to pull it off the shelf and just watch it.
Granted the trailer looks amusing but I don't think that Chris Rock will be able to pull off "stoic" quite as well as Matthew MacFadyen does. I'm afraid that there will be too many punchlines thrown to Chris Rock that will take away from the character of a quiet man trying to walk in what he imagined his father's footsteps to be.
And, though I know I AM biased, I don't think that James Marsden, funny as he can be, will be able to hold a candle to Alan's comedic timing and total abandon. Marsden just doesn't seem to have the range that Alan does – I'm not sure he'll do it justice.
Speaking of Firefly alum, Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) managed to get himself cast in the remake.
@ Danger… So does that mean you're not going to see it now?
@ David… All we need now is for Malcolm Reynolds to get a cameo as a waiter and Firefly reunion will be complete!
I actually haven’t seen this film. I have just put it on my rental list. As for the remake, how bad can it be? In Neil LaBute They have got a top director who did a great job on the remake of The Wicker Man.
I think I may give the remake a miss, put will report back once I have seen the original.
Looks like I have to see the original, but I actually thought the remake trailer was pretty good. Don't think I'll be messing myself from laughing so hard, nor do I think I'm preaching to the choir here, but what can I say, I dug it.
@ Fandango… Can't wait to hear what you think of the original. Hope to see a post on it soon.
@ Aiden… Don't get me wrong, the remake gave me a few giggles…but mostly Marsden doing his best Alan Tudyk impression. I just wish they'd given the original a bit more room to breathe.
Wait, wha? Why the hell are they remaking a PERFECTLY LOVELY and COMICAL film? This is a recipe for disaster. No one consulted me on this.
I will steadfastly refuse to see this for one reason: IT WILL NOT HAVE PETER DINKLAGE. 'Nuff said.
@ M. Carter… Ahh-ctually – watch the trailer. Dinklage is there, pulling a Penelope Cruz and reprising his role!
Yikes!!! I'm as perplexed as you are when I first heard this. I do like British humor, and I think part of the charm is its British-ness. I'm not saying the same situation can't work in American culture, it's just this movie just seemed, um ill-conceived?? Not to mention pointless. I saw it on dvd fairly recently so it's still fresh in my mind. Yeah, Tudyk's performance is hard to beat, I doubt Marsden can pull it off.
Needless to say, I'm gonna skip this one.
@ RTM… It just seems like an odd situation, doesn't it? I mean, this isn't like a foreign film being adapetd for a North American audience…it's British! How freakin' "foreign" is British film??
I'm pretty darned sure I'm skipping it too.
Well some Americans think Guy Ritchie's flicks are too "British", whatever that means. Interestingly, I was just on the IMDb board for the flick and one black person felt really strongly against this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321509/board/nest/152883609
Oh well, this is an all around bad idea.
@ RTM… Guy Ritchie?…Too British??…Cripes, what would they think of Benny Hill or Black Adder.
Y'know, I think my big hiccup with this is Martin Lawrence. I like everyone else in it, so maybe if his part was recast, we might have something!