MOVIE REVIEW - Death At A Funeral

It's a big cast and big hype, and Death At A Funeral is in theaters this weekend.

Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, and tons more star in this fast paced comedy that deals with a funeral that goes horribly wrong, for about every reason on earth. This movie has been previewed in theaters for months, and now it's here. Sometimes, that can be a big problem, as many times you feel like you've already seen the movie..before you see it. I was concerned about that here, but this movie stands on its own.

DAAF is not a rip roaring, fall in the ground holding your sides comedy. BUT there are some real good laughs here. Before you go, you should know that with Rock and Lawrence, it should be no surprise it's rated R, and deservedly so. This is a continuing Hollywood trend, and these rated R comedies are gaining momentum.

The basic premise here is a large extended family that rarely reunites, does so because of a death. The funeral is a disaster, with tons of side plots and stories. Too many to mention here. And most of this works. Some parts more than others. It pushes the line a time or two, and can't resist the "gross out" factor a time or two, but overall this is pretty funny.

On the negative, this movie at times sort of looks like a Saturday Night Live skit on steroids. Could be there's just not enough story here for 90 minutes. On the positive, one thing this movie does very well, is a nice pace and space. Meaning is zips along, the the star studded cast doesn't seem to be fighting for camera time. This was huge problem in Valentines Day out this year. No problem here.

Death At A Funeral. This is not an Oscar winner.....but overall it's pretty funny!