Trailer - The Remake of 'Death at a Funeral'

Death at a Funeral is one of the best British farces in a long time. Please rent it. When I heard they were remaking it, and that the "they" involved the movie-murdering talents of Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence, I was deeply concerned. Oh, Rock's very funny...just not in movies. My concern is assuaged somewhat by the first trailer for the new version of Death at a Funeral. It looks as similar to the original as it can, right down to casting Peter Dinklage to reprise his role as what can only be deemed "the worst-case scenario." Of course, worst-case scenarios are how British farces butter their bread, which is one reason I wasn't sure what we'd be getting here. But the trailer is pretty entertaining, all things considered. Rock and Lawrence are joined by Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Danny Glover, and James Marsden. Check it out:
Videos courtesy of Trailer Spy Now, the problem here, if there will be one, is the pacing. Farces are nearly impossible to get right because the comedic timing has to be so precise. If the new Death at a Funeral wants to slow it down, and American audiences generally like it that way, then the whole thing may fall apart. But I'm much more interested now than I was before. Also, as a point of caution: Is Neil LaBute really the director you'd pick for this?

Comments

[JP]

Why did the feel the need to remake an English movie? It looks like an Americanized Photo copy.

[Get The Big Picture]

Completely different demographic for the first film, I guess. It's a great script and the original writer worked on this one, too. But even if they'd just re-released the original - or if they had just done a better job with it two years ago - I doubt it would have attracted a substantial urban audience, and that's clearly the goal with this one.

[Vince]

I agree, this movie is going for a completely different audience with this "remake".

It doesn't look offensively bad, but the casting of Peter Dinklage as the same exact role that he was in the original film shows how lazy this is- they're basically saying "let's do the same movie, but like exactly!"

[ummm]

its not lazy, its a cameo and a tip of the hat to the original, basically saying its the same story just told from a different perspective. and i hate to say it but it kinda looks funny...

[Get The Big Picture]

It's too big and too important a role to be a cameo, unfortunately.

[SEAN]

Looks very funny...Wow ...

I agree with your sentiments about farce...

Neil Labute aint a horrible choice, I mean he is a playwright and theatre guy/director/producer which is kinda funny bringing in for this but he does write pretty funny plays

[Emo]

As much as I don't want to admit it either...it does look like it has some promise. Martin Lawrence.....please....please don't suck like usual.

The original was very funny.

[Josh]

I'm intrigued here. Chris Rock doesn't look bad, and the cast looks good (aside from Martin Lawrence). Hopefully Martin doesn't drag this down.