Death at a Funeral

When an extended British clan gathers at a country estate for a funeral, one of them takes an accidental dose of LSD, an uninvited guest shows up to blackmail the family, and chaos ensues. Written by Dean Craig and directed by Frank Oz, the movie starts out as a droll little comedy of stiff-upper-lip manners, then absolutely explodes into madcap farce. Craig’s script is a marvel of comic construction, beginning with grins and chuckles, then progressing through hearty laughs to breathless, screaming guffaws, and director Oz paces it all to a fare-thee-well with his fine ensemble cast (matriarch Jane Asher, brothers Matthew Macfadyen and Rupert Graves, blackmailer Peter Dinklage, acid-tripper Alan Tudyk, cantankerous uncle Peter Vaughan, and many more). It’s the funniest movie in years, maybe decades.