"Death at a Funeral" is a hilarious British black comedy from 2007 starring Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Dinklage, Jane Asher, Alan Tudyk, Kris Marshall, Rupert Graves, and Peter Vaughan.

A family gathers for the patriarch's funeral: his wife (Asher),his son Daniel (MacFadyen) and his wife Jane (Keely Hawes, MacFadyen's real-life wife),and his son Robert (Rupert Graves). Robert is a well-known author living in a New York City penthouse; Daniel and Jane have been looking after his parents but now are planning to get a flat further away. Daniel and Robert are supposed to split the cost of the funeral, but Robert claims to have no money because it's expensive to keep up his lifestyle. He also won't give the eulogy, though everyone who walks in asks him if he's going to. Meanwhile, Daniel practices a eulogy but never seems to get past, "My father was an exceptional man." Meanwhile, the funeral home has brought the wrong body and has to return to get the right one.

Daniel and Robert's cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is attending the funeral with her boyfriend Simon (Tudyk). When they go to pick up Troy (Marshall),Martha gives the nervous Simon what she thinks is a Valium. It's a hallucinogenic concocted by Troy, who is a pharmacy student. By the time they get to the wedding, Simon is acting strangely. Not as strangely as he would act later on, but strangely.

Daniel notices a dwarf (Dinklage) at the funeral; the man says he wants to speak with Daniel privately. His name is Peter.

That's all I'll say but the story becomes more and more bizarre and funny, including a hypochondriac with a discoloration on his wrist that he's sure is a dreaded disease, blackmail, nudity, a locked bathroom, and lots of other things.

Very, very entertaining with fine performances, no one going for laughs, just playing the characters. That's really the way to do it. One of my favorite parts occurs when Robert tries to dismiss the problems brought in by Peter, saying, "Oh, no one even noticed him." "No one noticed him?" Daniel asks. "He's 4'5!" A lovely ending puts the cap on this entertaining film.

While I would never say that "Death at a Funeral" is a brilliant comedy, it certainly takes a simple idea and makes the most of it. It's the story of a funeral that ends up having just about every awful possible thing occur throughout its course. And, I love that just when you can't imagine it getting any worse, it does! It's the sort of thing that is great fun to watch but thank goodness it's not happening to people you know and love! Now not everyone likes a comedy like this--my wife surely would have cringed repeatedly through the course of this movie. But I loved that it only got worse and worse and worse! So what exactly occurs? I'd really rather not say--it would spoil all the fun. But it really does pay off in this clever but sick comedy.

Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) and his wife Jane (Keeley Hawes) live in his father's home. Jane is eager to pay the deposit for their new flat. The father dies and they hold the funeral at the home. The day starts off badly when the wrong body arrives. Friends Howard (Andy Nyman) and Justin (Ewen Bremner) pick up Uncle Alfie. Justin is only there to chase after Martha. Daniel's cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is moving in with Simon (Alan Tudyk). Sandra (Jane Asher) is the widowed wife and Robert (Rupert Graves) is the self-obsessed writer son who refuses to do the eulogy or pay for his half of the funeral. Everybody wants the successful writer Robert to do the eulogy. Martha innocently takes a pill from her pharmacy student brother Troy (Kris Marshall) for Simon. It's a drug specially designed by Troy and Simon doesn't react well. Along with a cavalcade of family and friends, mysterious stranger Peter (Peter Dinklage) shows up with a secret about the father although Daniel keeps ignoring him.

This is a fine British farce. There are some fun wacky stuff in here but no big laughs. The actors work well together. They are all good at inhabiting their roles and make each one memorable. It's a lot of chuckle worthy individual performances especially Tudyk.