Eulogy

Eulogy

When the patriarch of a dysfunctional family dies, his sons and daughters travel with their families for the funeral. While they stay in the house of the matriarch waiting for the funeral and the testament, secrets are exposed and wounds are opened in the relationships of the members. "Eulogy" is a boring and not funny dark comedy. The great cast is wasted in an unpleasant screenplay and the direction with heavy hand of Michael Clancy. The Brazilian title misleads the viewer. My vote is five. Title (Brazil) : "Um Funeral Muito Louco" ("A Very Crazy Funeral")

That's about it. The gallows and sexual humor are at times pretty funny, but the characters are all given problems taken to the point of absurdity. Having funny lines spoken by characters that don't seem real seems to take the edge off the humor. Still, having so many big names together is great to watch (Azaria and Romano, while they look nothing alike, are completely believable as brothers, maybe they should work together again), but their kids are all caricatures, not characters. They all seem to represent the embodiments of the worst aspects of their parents. This is excepting Zooey Deschannel's character, Kate, the "normal" one in the family, the emotional baseline with which the audience identifies. While not a straight lead, is involved in most of the events. Overall, it felt like an attempt at a Tenenbaumsy dysfunction covered over with outrageous dialogue, but it didn't quite make it. Two notes. There's a brief snip in the TV commercial of Rip Torn sitting up in the coffin at the funeral that isn't in the film. And stay through the credits for a final zinger.

If Hollywood stopped making films about dysfunctional families there'd be a real drought in the theaters and on DVD shelves. "Eulogy" is a pretty conventional tale but it's well-acted. The paterfamilias, grandfather, is dead, apparently by his own hand, and the family - immediate and extended - arrives at the grieving widow's home to prepare for the funeral immediately resuming hostilities over well-aged feuds and hurts. Nothing surprising here. Zooey Deschanel as Kate is a college student who seems to be the most normal member of an eclectic and eccentric crew. Her grandmother is Piper Laurie and, have no fear, those who remember the beautiful young actress of an earlier Silver Screen age won't recognize her here. How the mighty have...aged. Hank Azaria has a fun(ny) role as a loser with a heart. Deborah Winger turns in a first-rate performance as Kate's shrewish Aunt Alice who exudes homophobia at a sister who arrives with her fiancé (or fiancée), a sharp, observant woman. Alice, is married to a drone who without barely a word smiles ceaselessly and seems on the verge of drooling. Their three kids are also silent, probably disturbed big time. And two nasty pre-teen twins of Alice's brother make Dennis the Menace a choir boy by comparison. No character here that hasn't been seen in many movies and TV sitcoms. But there's a thread of drama with the zany comedy that makes "Eulogy" a mite different if whacked out family stories intrigue you. It's an ensemble production - see the IMDb.com main page for the full cast. But Ms. Deschanel, with her dark eyes and sharp takes at her family members' antics, is the acting center of the flick. 8/10 (barely but I laughed a lot).

An impressive cast wasting their time, and the viewers', with a trite and trivial attempt at quirky situation-tragedy...that comes to a heartwarming conclusion, doncha know. It seeks to engage the auditor's empathy with ineptly-drawn caricatures, set in over-familiar situations, and pretends that it's being witty while doing so...it's the Indie-film equivalent of a mediocre sitcom, and while the cast has done its fair share of mediocre sitcoms, they are capable of much more. I'm not sure I can say the same of the rest of the anti-creative crew in this project; the indulgence in singer-songwriter standards as a sort of unifying theme adds yet another stale ingredient, but at least it presumably gave Joan Armatrading another few bucks, so there's a redeeming quality.

You'd think that with a cast that includes Ray Romano, Glenn Headly, Debra Winger, Hank Azaria and a whole bunch of other talented people, a movie wouldn't blow chunks. But you'd be wrong. This stinker is so chunky, you might want to watch it with a fork. Not even my fondness for Debra Winger (who stole my heart in Forget Paris)could make me enjoy this movie. Rip Torn is a familial patriarch whose death brings together what is perhaps one of the most dysfunctional families ever filmed. There's not a balanced person among them, and each character has all the depth of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. (The ultra cool Jonny Quest notwithstanding.) I believe the producers were going for something akin to The Royal Tenenbaums, but instead wound up with some tired characters we've seen many times before: Oldest son who feels that Dad never loved him? Check. (Ray Romano, doing his shtick. He's really funny, but maybe he should add some stuff to his routine.) Middle daughter who is dutiful and bitter? Yup. (Debra Winger, who normally approaches goddess hood for me, but here is just plain sad.) Second son who appeared to be the favorite but was really stuck in a pattern of trying to please someone who was never around? You bet. (Hank Azaria, how did they blackmail you into this movie?) Youngest daughter who rebels by becoming a lesbian? Uh huh. (Kelly Preston, who looked as if she were sleepwalking through this film.) Sultry lesbian girlfriend? Ditto. (Famke Janssen, slumming. I keep waiting for this actor to get a role worthy of her. Perhaps I give her more credit than she deserves because I think she's cute.) Distraught mother who dismisses the father's faults by saying "He made me laugh"? Gotcha. (Piper Laurie had the best lines in this show, if you ask me.) Hot post-adolescent (but not quite adult) granddaughter struggling to find meaning? Oh yeah. (Zooey Deschanel, who can be mesmerizing and really, really, really tries hard to make this role work.) Wacky neighbor who knows a 'startling' family secret? Mmmm-hamm. (Glenn Headley, who is most of the time quite remarkable, is wasted here.) Finally, the sensitive boyfriend who knows exactly what to say? Sure. (The immensely forgettable Jesse Bradford.) We've seen all of these people before. We've seen them in better movies, with better scripts, and it was hard to care about any of these people. The only character that viewers come even close to caring about is the granddaughter, because she's as close to 'normal' as this movie lets the viewer get. She's the most like us, so we are supposed to care. It's an 'okay' performance, but Winona Rider did this 20 years ago in Mermaids. The plot, such as it is, lurches between 'funny' bits of lowbrow comedy that is so pedestrian and predictable that I could check it off as we went: Everyone gets a grand entrance. Everyone gets a moment to display an idiosyncrasy. Everyone gets to quip about the dead father. Contrivances abound to escalate the conflict. Things build up to a boiling point and then there's a release. And without spoiling the movie for anyone, a comedic explosion in which no one is harmed. Then these disparate characters make up with each other, after a fashion. And that's the end.

I can't believe the folks writing the GOOD reviews were watching the same movie. This was a big waste of time and talent. (except for Ray Romano, probably the most UN-funny comedian alive today. he has no talent. "hi ma, sorry about dad, eeyyyaaauuuhhhh") A pitiful story line, idiotic gags ( hey, someones at the door, I think ill leave the porno playing in the VCR while I hide in the closet!) This is one of those marvels of movies, a comedy during which i didn't-laugh-once. not one time. I got a slight giggle out of the priest, but maybe I was laughing at myself for sitting through the movie long enough to get to that point. File this one under "A" for "avoid it like plague". sorry folks **you couldn't make me laugh if I was already laughing my ass off, and you were making me do it!--peter griffin***

EULOGY (2004) *1/2 Zooey Deschanel, Hank Azaria, Ray Romano, Debra Winger, Kelly Preston, Piper Laurie, Famke Janssen, Jesse Bradford Glenne Headly, Rip Torn, Curtis and Keith Garcia, Rene Auberjonois, Rance Howard, Debra Monk, Paget Brewster. Would be black comedy about a dysfunctional family reunited for the sad task of burying the patriarch (Torn) and his granddaughter (the always wonderful Deschanel) given the task to orate at the funeral with disastrous results. Novice filmmaker Michael Clancy (who also wrote the strained screenplay) misses the mark entirely in what could be fodder for a satirical bent on the one time family truly lets their guards down. A complete waste of an eclectic ensemble and features one of cinema's truly obnoxious twins on screen (the Garcia brothers) that deserve a good old fashioned beating!

this was by far one of the worst movies I've seen. Don't waste 85 minutes of your life on this movie . THe people who did the trailer should be given an Oscar , they make the movie look real funny but its really not. ITs low budget flick and looks like it was put together real quick. i only found a few scenes in the movie (maybe 2 or 3) funny. The story line is really badly constructed. I fail too see how people could laugh throughout this movie. I had high hopes for this movie after looking at a few reviews, but after just 15 minutes of the movie i knew it was going to suck. a Major Disappointment. Michael Clancy should retire from directing Films , and Ray Romano should stick to TV. 4 /10

My problem with this movie is that I expected it to be hilarious. With it's incredible cast how could it miss? But miss it did, badly. Hank Azaria? Piper Laurie? Debra Winger? Glenne Headly? Famke Janssen? Rip Torn? (not enough Rip) And Zooey Deschanel? In truth, I enjoyed all their performances; I disliked the dialog and direction. Almost everything seemed contrived at best and forced at worst. The surprises weren't very and the end could not come soon enough. The characters that were meant to irritate me did and most of the others did as well. As a survivor of a dysfunctional family, I enjoy DF comedies; this one seemed longer than my childhood.