Rating: R for language, drug content and some sexual humor
Directed by Neil LaBute (Lakeview Terrace and The Wicker Man)
Starring Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Danny Glover and Luke Wilson
This was more like “Death of a Funny Movie”.
A day in the life of an American family who come together to put a beloved husband and father to rest. As mourners gather at the family home, shocking revelations, festering resentments, ugly threats, blackmail and a misdirected corpse unleash lethal mayhem.
There is no doubt the cast is amazing. Knowing that Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence were in major roles, I expected to leave this one with my stomach hurting from laughing so hard. Instead I left completely disappointed that I had seen almost every funny scene in the trailer.
Besides that, I think Director Neil LaBute struggles when it comes to “joke telling”. Here’s what I mean. There are usually two parts to a good joke: the set-up and the punch line. Well because of the trailer, I knew just about every punch line and the set ups took FOREVER to get to. So once I got there…it just wasn’t funny. For example, we all know that the undertaker brings the wrong coffin to the funeral and Chris Rock says something like, “That’s Jakie Chan in there.” Ok that was funny when I saw it in the trailer, but when the set up takes over five minutes…NOT FUNNY.
I also wasn’t expecting the jokes to get as crude as they did. Like when Tracy Morgan gets his hand stuck under Danny Glover on the toilet. I thought that was funny…but when he pulls his hand out and waves it in front of the camera covered in a brown liquid, it got less funny. And when he goes to wash it off and the water sprays it into his mouth…definitely not funny.
I have to give this an “Only if Free” or “only if you haven’t seen the trailer”.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is one character who is given drugs by mistake and ends up being naked for an entire scene. There is also the language and crude humor that makes this a true R rating.
Side Note:
We don’t recommend your kids see this film. But on the occasion that they actually have already seen it, you may want to dialogue about the film with them. These questions below may be a help to you.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
Q: What was the theme (or the message) of this movie?
A: What happens at our funerals depends largely on what happens during our lives. If we live honorable lives, people will talk about our integrity. If we live our lives full of sin, people will have to fabricate nice/kind things to say about us.
Q: What can we—as serious Christ-followers—take away from this movie?
A: This movie included lots of characters who lived their lives in ways that weren’t honoring to God. One character was gay. One character was a drug dealer. Another character is a “player” who’s only concerned about sex. The list goes on. We can’t live our lives like those characters.
There’s a fantastic verse in the Bible that should serve as a great reminder about how we live our lives. Proverbs 10:9 says, “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”
Even when we think we “get away” with something, the truth is, we will one day be “found out.”
Q: How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
A: The only thing we can do is to lead lives of integrity. We need to first be faithful to God, but second, we need to adhere to the laws that govern us. We can’t cheat. We can’t lie. We can’t manipulate others. We can’t do things that are illegal.
If we don’t live lives of integrity, not only do we disgrace our own name, but the Name of God, too.
