0 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - ]]A Dry Brits save dark comedy By JENNA PARKS Daily Arts Writer Painfully awkward situations compounded by delightfully dry characters are the bill of fare for the British comedy "Death at a Funeral." Frank Oz ("Bowfinger") steps far outside the bounds of "The Muppets"to *** tackle the uneven topics of death, Death at a drugs, blackmail, Funeral homosexuality and, of course, Atthe State accidental blud- Theater geoning (every- one's favorite). MGM Holding the funeral of his father in his home, Daniel (Mat- thew Macfadyen "Grindhouse") must host a bevy of dysfunctional friends and relatives equipped with unique sets of follies and flaws. Forced into politely coex- lacing for one grave event, the ' funeral attendeesdevolveintto various states of mayhem that end up colliding as Daniel attempts to deliver his lackluster eulogy. A stranger in the crowd manages to throw the congregation into fur- ther chaos when he starts bring-G ing skeletons out of the deceased's closet. Thoughthe earlymoments drag - despite the whole film being What's in the achet? only 90 minutes long - a bizarre plot twist sends the cast into a the living room. tumult that only the British could the mucg ofe n conduct. The crescendo of ridicu- While much of the plotine is bous larks culminates abu1ad predictable, and the running gags abruptlyand seem like cheap replacements for the guests go their separate ways new material, the rich characters while the audience is left exhaust- make these excusable offenses. ed and uncomfortable. Despite all Throughout the film threatens to of this irritation, "Funeral" leaves be pushed over the edge of com- little time to breathe through all edy into complete absurdity, but the laugh-out-loud moments. As somehow manages to keep its each character devolves into their feet firmly planted on the ground. own most hilariously embarrass- Being able to laugh at what you ing selves, the body of the family's know you shouldn't is an impor- patriarch lies mocking them in tant skill to have when entering LEISURE From page 5A its informal side. Summer func- tions such as these often bypass the standard procedure that usu- ally gains access to art. When there are no tickets required (or free tickets), the mood and the demographics change. When the form is open and more impromp- tu, such as a street fair or a parade, the content is often less narrowly defined. In public forums - those places outside of the gallery and concert hall that vet by admission fees and the like - artists and performers have access to viewers they might not otherwise. Some grab that seasonal opportunity and pres- ent riskier product, trying to hit several bases at once. Summer art reaches out to profitability, aesthetics, diatribe. When your audience consists of vacationers in a generous frame of mind, art can be both weirder and more marketable. As the academic year gets going and leisure time becomes scarce, art competes more fierce- ly for people's free time. Art that's more dependable, more structured and more plannedcan take a prime-time spot; on those couple of evenings that working stiffs can dedicate to leisure, the opera hall, the solemn museum and the plush-seated climate- controlled theater will be wait- ing and ready. So it takes more planning to make Ann Arbor's art offerings part of your week -butrnot that much more. Cheap rush tickets are almost always an option, and since events during the year are often detailed on events and venue websites, it's actually easier to know what you're getting into (and when, how and why). With public summer art, the stakes are low and the partici- pants are often up for anything. It can be hard to ride the wave of summer into the world of aca- demic and work demands, but a hard-earned break at the end of your week is the best place to try. COURTESY OF MGM the theater for "Death at a Funer- al," since no feelings are spared in a comedy centered on such a sober gathering. Though certainly not without humor, "Funeral" is at times so traumatically uncomfortable it leaves the stomach in a constant state of knotted exhaustion. But it still manages to fulfill the roll of a sardonic and sharp British farce while reminding us it could be worse - it could be you in the casket. JOIN DAILY ARTS Mass meeting. Thursday at 8 p.m. 420 Maynard St. Nothing but a series of dropped'Balls' By BLAKE GOBLE DailyArts Writer Balls. That's the joke in "Balls of Fury." Getting kicked in the balls. Punched in the balls. Getting hit with a paddle in the balls. Euphe- misms about balls. But most important, lots of ping-pongballs. Balls, balls, balls. If that's your * o kind of comedy, great. No judg- Balls of Fury ment.Ping-pong is an inherently Atthe funny game of Quality16 and spastic motions Showcase and silly anger Ro over little white glae plastic spheres. But other than that, there's noth- ing else in this new ping-pong thud, where nothing - and I mean nothing - is too cheap. A lazy man's mash-up of "Dodgeball" and "Enter the Drag- on," "Balls" is an imagined land- scape where secret international underground ping-pong is king. Kind of funny. It must be infiltrat- ed by former golden-child player Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler, "School For Scoundrels") whose love for Def Leppard and long-forgotten tal- ent makes him an unlikely candi- date for this mission. In his way stands the tourney's organizer, Feng (an uber-campy Christopher Walken), a Fu Manchu with noth- ing but eccentricity to guide him. Also pretty funny. The finished movie is just not funny. Way too many esoteric references to the 1980s, hammy chauvinistic acting and ball gag after ball gag. Poor Christopher Walken's obvious talents are wasted for a series of awkward phrases, which will surely be swapped between frat boys the world over soon enough lest I feel the need to repeat them. Written, produced and direct- ed by "Reno 911!" stars Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Dep. Junior and Lt. Dangle, in that order), "Balls of Fury" suffers from the same problems as their last effort, "Reno 911!: Miami," wherein the jokes are so stale and overused that it seems like these people might not know what's funny anymore. Sure, getting hit in the balls is funny, but getting hit 100 times in 88 minutes? Go watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" instead. It's free. COURTESY OF ROGUE Um, wow.