Remakes

As many of you are aware, Hollywood has gotten into the habit of remaking pretty much every movie that has ever existed. It's gotten to the point where many people are questioning the integrity of the town. According to my girlfriend, there are 70 remakes in the work as we speak... I tend to look the other way because I haven't been exposed to many of the originals, though I have slowly been exposing myself to them... Maybe someday, I'll have a marathon of the AFI Top 100 movies I haven't seen yet. Anyway...

This week, we are going to be treated to a remake of Death At a Funeral. The original was created in the UK only three years ago! I saw it for the first time last year in an International Cinema class I took and I absolutely LOVED it. It was witty, well-acted, and fresh the entire length of the film, and in my opinion, it doesn't need a remake!

The film is basically about a dysfunctional family who attends a funeral for the patriarch. Murphy's law takes over and everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. A stranger shows up and tries to expose a dark secret that can ruin everything. This film is a dark comedy in every sense, but it had me laughing the whole way through.

The trailer for the remake has been out for awhile now and pretty much gives away the entire movie. Because I think so highly of the original film, I just get so angry when the remake is mentioned. I can understand the remakes of other films like the upcoming Friday the 13th, because the producers for those properties are trying to reboot those franchises. The Death At a Funeral remake just seems so pointless to me and I don't get it.

I'm just tired of having the low expectations for a movie based on the fact that it is a remake. Let's face it: the remakes rarely, if ever, exceed the quality of the originals. I actually enjoyed Titans because I didn't have anything to compare it too, and I went in expecting not that much from the things that I have heard. All I know is, I'm skipping Funeral and you should too. Save your 12 bucks and go to your local video store and rent the original instead. You'll be so much happier.