Death at a Funeral (2007)

Alan Tudyk. What else is there to say?

Okay. I have more to say than that.

But he’s always fantastic. I remember in the days of my youth, seeing a sneak preview of A Knight's Tale in a packed theatre. My group of Heath Ledger loving friends and I were super stoked about seeing the movie where Heath ledger had good hair. But who did we leave the theatre quoting? Alan Tudyk. “It’s called a lance. Heloooo?” It still makes me giggle.

Of course, it was years before I knew his name. He was “The guy from a Knights Tale who was also in 28 Days.” (When Fellowship of the Ring came out, Viggo Mortensen affectingly gained the title of “The guy from 28 Days.” But that’s neither here nor there).

Now, Mr. Tudyk is popping up everywhere. He’s the only reason I watched more than one episode of V and he was monumentally awesome on Dollhouse. His performance in Death at a Funeral was hilarity beginning to end and would be reason enough to see this film. However, this film had many reasons to see this film. Making fun of the 2010 remake is one of them.

It was fun watching this movie, pointing to Alan Tudyk and saying “He’s James Marsden – right?” Or pointing to Matthew MacFadyen (Mr. Darcy!) and saying “Chris Rock? Really?” But the best might have been Andy Nyman (pictured below) and saying “Ah yes! Tracy Morgan. The resemblance is uncanny.”

Peter Dinklege must be the only little person actor out there as we pointed to him and cleverly remarked “Peter Dinklage must be playing the Peter Dinklage role!” Har har har.

I didn’t actually see the 2010 remake of Death at a Funeral, but like everyone else, I did see the previews. Multiple times. Ad nauseam. And gosh darn it, I feel like I got the cinematic experience of it all.

This movie was brilliantly funny. It was very British, very well acted, and has joined the short list of movies I’ll buy in the near future.

Check out this article that compares the two films and laugh at the various clips.