Frank Oz returns from the disaster that was The Stepford Wives to direct one of the best comedies this year in Death at a Funeral, a multi character British farce, which focuses on a disastrous funeral procession where anything that can go wrong does go wrong, as one extraordinary circumstance is followed by another.

The script by Dean Craig contains a biting, dark wit, and is often shocking due to the clash of its funeral setting and the characters often sacrilegious behaviour and expletive driven language. It is not a film best described as outrageously funny, although it is consistent in its humour and features a couple of laugh out loud moments.

The film features several interweaving storylines; Daniel (Matthew Macfayden) and Robert (Rupert Graves) are sons of the deceased who must deal with a number of unresolved issues between them; their cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) has her hands full with her acid tripping boyfriend Simon (Alan Tudyk) who mistook the hallucinogenic drug for Valium; Howard (Andy Nyman) is a hypochondriac who is asked to take care of Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughtan), a cantankerous and disabled old man; Spud (Ewen Bremner) crashes the funeral in an attempt to pick up Martha, with whom he had a one night stand; and a mysterious American stranger (Peter Dinklage) threatens to expose a dark secret about the deceased unless he is properly compensated.

A broad range of comedic stylings is featured. Alan Tudyk covers the physical end of the spectrum rather well, while Andy Nyman nails the bumbling, Ricky Gervais style of humour which is all the range these days. Frank Oz successfully caters to every form of comedy on hand, and in doing so captures every character who are all given sufficient screen time and played very well by its cast.

The style and structure of the film is simple and vivacious, and would go down quite well on stage if it were ever adapted into a play. Yet more importantly Death in a Funeral is filled with many humorous moments.