Death at a Funeral,
directed by Neil LaBute
(Sony, 2010)

A very proper wealthy British family gathers to mourn the loss of Daniel's (Matthew Macfadyen) father when everything goes wrong. You've got accidental drug abuse, nudity, coffin sharing and a whole lot more.

Even after having watched this film initially more than once on first run, later buying the film, and watching it at least once a year since, I still laugh til my sides hurt every time I see it.

Death at a Funeral is honestly one of the funniest films ever made, with top accolades going to Alan Tudyk (as Simon, Daniel's cousin's fiance) and Peter Dinklage (as Peter, who shares a secret about the deceased). Additional stars include Ewen Bremner as Justin, Keeley Hawes as Jane, Andy Nyman as Howard, Daisy Donovan as Martha, Jane Asher as Sandra and Peter Vaughan as Uncle Alfie.

We own the disc and will watch it just about every time we see it on television.

The U.S. remake follows the original British movie pretty much scene-by-scene, only this time the action takes place in the United States with a primarily black cast based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

Daniel is now Aaron (played by Chris Rock). Simon is now Oscar (James Marsden). Peter is now Frank (again played by Peter Dinklage). Additional stars include Martin Lawrence as Ryan, Keith David as the Rev. Davis, Loretta Devine as Cynthia, Ron Glass as Duncan, Danny Glover as Uncle Russell and Zoe Saldana as Elaine.

As much as I loved the original -- and while I liked the notion of the remake -- it felt like they were trying to be "British" to me, and it just didn't work. The writers really needed to make the characters sound like folks from Atlanta and put more regional humor into the show.

Recycling too much of the concept was a waste of some amazing talent.