Martin Lawrence to Murder 'Death at a Funeral' Remake

To me, it's a shame that anyone is remaking Death at a Funeral at this point. I wish more people had seen the original, released about 18 months ago. Sadly, the delirious, frantic British comedy only made about $9 million here in the U.S., but the upside is that internationally it made about $40 million. Farcical comedy is probably the hardest kind to execute. Everything from the dialogue to the movement to the editing has to have the same rhythm and sustain it for 90 minutes. That's the whole key. Death at a Funeral is like the best Fawlty Towers episode you've ever seen, but stretched out over an hour and a half. Can the new Chris Rock update pull that off? I think it took a serious step back today by hiring Martin Lawrence. I'm not as worried about Rock, but Lawrence is not really an ensemble actor; he's Martin Lawrence plugged into any situation. The Hollywood Reporter announced that the cast also expanded to include Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Zoe Saldana, Ron Glass, Regina Hall, James Marsden, Loretta Devine, and Columbus Short. Morgan works in an ensemble every week, and the others don't really hog the spotlight. I'll be interested to see what Columbus Short can do. But even when he's funny, I don't think of Martin Lawrence working in this kind of comedy. Now, Rock co-wrote the new script (which isn't a great sign either, given his credits), so it makes me wonder how much of a farce this will try to be. The other element here is that the story - which I'm sure they're keeping - really only works in a farce. A Wes Anderson comedy couldn't pull it off, nor could a Katherine Heigl comedy nor Rock's I Think I Love My Wife. They're all going for different laughs at different times. So if it's not a farce, what the hell are they doing? And if it is a farce, why would you put together a lot of cast members capable of pulling it off and give Martin Lawrence a key role? It's like flying a plane with handlebars.

Comments

[Jane]

NO. No. I feel like pulling a Jay & Silent Bob and hitchhiking out to Hollywood to prevent this from happening. Some things just should not be allowed under any circumstances.

[annerkey29]

I agree with Jane, there really is no more that needs to be said other then "why?!"