Even when grief is overwhelming, funerals can be absurd gatherings full of awkward drama and unintentionally funny ritual by rote. In the case of Eulogy, writer-director Michael Clancy's feature debut, there's no troublesome sadness to get in the way of the quirk factor. Character eccentricities and off-kilter group dynamics play out with a comic vengeance.
Although this black comedy doesn't always achieve its intended laughs and sometimes pushes too hard for them, at its best it offers droll glimpses of the cosmic abyss that often serves as a family's connective tissue. The terrific ensemble cast finds the right deadpan tone to deliver the dysfunction. The presence of Debra Winger will up the draw for niche theatrical audiences, and Eulogy should enjoy a long afterlife on home video.
Unshowy tech contributions, led by DP Michael Chapman (Raging Bull) and editor Richard Halsey (Rocky), put the actors front and center in this concise comic portrait of a clan numbed by disappointment. Winger plays Alice, the oldest, loudest and angriest of the four Collins siblings, returning home to Rhode Island for the funeral of the father they barely knew (Rip Torn). His passing barely dents their self-centered orbits, and even his widow (Piper Laurie) responds with a vacant impassiveness, notwithstanding a couple of badly misfired suicide attempts.
The unlikely voice of sanity and compassion within the sorry lot is college student Kate (Zooey Deschanel, exuding practicality and emotional translucence). When she's not struggling to write the eulogy her clear-eyed grandmother requested, she's avoiding neighbor Ryan (Jesse Bradford), confused over the romantic turn their lifelong summer friendship has taken.
Kate's father, Dan (Hank Azaria), is an adult-film actor looking through a cannabis haze for his big break, having reached his show business zenith in a peanut butter commercial at age 8. Skip (Ray Romano) is a lawyer of sorts with a most unfortunate mustache, and adolescent twins (Curtis and Keith Garcia) who, when they're not being plain evil, toss around sex-talk swagger as though they've listened to Howard Stern one too many times.
The twins take a sudden interest in the gathering when their feisty aunt Lucy (Kelly Preston) shows up with her easygoing "life partner," Judy (Famke Janssen). This rather forced self-introduction is the first sign that Clancy is going to use the lesbian relationship a bit too insistently. While Alice's three children cower in silence and her husband (Mark Harelik) burbles incoherently, she all but puts Lucy and Judy on trial. By the time they announce their wedding plans, you can only wonder why the brides-to-be would want this variously mean-spirited and clueless bunch at the festivities.
But the utter irrationality of family is Clancy's point. It's no wonder Grandma sees no reason to explain her eagerness to check out. And while her suicide attempts aren't as, well, funny as they're meant to be, they do land her in the inexpert care of a dippy nurse (Glenne Headly, in sweet ditz mode) who turns out to be a crucial figure from Alice's past.
As good as it is to see Winger onscreen, her character is too strident a conception, the explanation for her malice a bit too easy. But to Clancy's credit he doesn't try to tie it all up with a feel-good ending. The dark undercurrents remain as the Collinses bid Dad farewell. The twins are still obnoxious. And Romano's Skip is still sporting that mustache.
EULOGY
Lions Gate Films
A Myriad Pictures presentation in association with Ovation Entertainment, Equity Pictures Medienfonds and S.R.O. Entertainment AF
Credits:
Director-writer: Michael Clancy
Producers: Steven Haft, Richard B. Lewis, Kirk D'Amico
Executive producers: Lucas Foster, Kendall Morgan, Bo Hyde, Rory Rosegarten, Jonas McCord, Shelly Glasser
Director of photography: Michael Chapman
Production designer: Dina Lipton
Music: George S. Clinton
Co-producers: Stefan Jonas, Jeanne Van Cott
Costume designer: Tracy Tynan
Editor: Richard Halsey
Cast:
Daniel Collins: Hank Azaria
Ryan Carmichael: Jesse Bradford
Kate Collins: Zooey Deschanel
Samantha: Glenne Headly
Judy Arnolds: Famke Janssen
Grandma Collins: Piper Laurie
Lucy Collins: Kelly Preston
Skip Collins: Ray Romano
Grandpa Collins: Rip Torn
Alice Collins: Debra Winger
Burt: Mark Harelik
Parson Banke: Rene Auberjonois
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 85 minutes...
Although this black comedy doesn't always achieve its intended laughs and sometimes pushes too hard for them, at its best it offers droll glimpses of the cosmic abyss that often serves as a family's connective tissue. The terrific ensemble cast finds the right deadpan tone to deliver the dysfunction. The presence of Debra Winger will up the draw for niche theatrical audiences, and Eulogy should enjoy a long afterlife on home video.
Unshowy tech contributions, led by DP Michael Chapman (Raging Bull) and editor Richard Halsey (Rocky), put the actors front and center in this concise comic portrait of a clan numbed by disappointment. Winger plays Alice, the oldest, loudest and angriest of the four Collins siblings, returning home to Rhode Island for the funeral of the father they barely knew (Rip Torn). His passing barely dents their self-centered orbits, and even his widow (Piper Laurie) responds with a vacant impassiveness, notwithstanding a couple of badly misfired suicide attempts.
The unlikely voice of sanity and compassion within the sorry lot is college student Kate (Zooey Deschanel, exuding practicality and emotional translucence). When she's not struggling to write the eulogy her clear-eyed grandmother requested, she's avoiding neighbor Ryan (Jesse Bradford), confused over the romantic turn their lifelong summer friendship has taken.
Kate's father, Dan (Hank Azaria), is an adult-film actor looking through a cannabis haze for his big break, having reached his show business zenith in a peanut butter commercial at age 8. Skip (Ray Romano) is a lawyer of sorts with a most unfortunate mustache, and adolescent twins (Curtis and Keith Garcia) who, when they're not being plain evil, toss around sex-talk swagger as though they've listened to Howard Stern one too many times.
The twins take a sudden interest in the gathering when their feisty aunt Lucy (Kelly Preston) shows up with her easygoing "life partner," Judy (Famke Janssen). This rather forced self-introduction is the first sign that Clancy is going to use the lesbian relationship a bit too insistently. While Alice's three children cower in silence and her husband (Mark Harelik) burbles incoherently, she all but puts Lucy and Judy on trial. By the time they announce their wedding plans, you can only wonder why the brides-to-be would want this variously mean-spirited and clueless bunch at the festivities.
But the utter irrationality of family is Clancy's point. It's no wonder Grandma sees no reason to explain her eagerness to check out. And while her suicide attempts aren't as, well, funny as they're meant to be, they do land her in the inexpert care of a dippy nurse (Glenne Headly, in sweet ditz mode) who turns out to be a crucial figure from Alice's past.
As good as it is to see Winger onscreen, her character is too strident a conception, the explanation for her malice a bit too easy. But to Clancy's credit he doesn't try to tie it all up with a feel-good ending. The dark undercurrents remain as the Collinses bid Dad farewell. The twins are still obnoxious. And Romano's Skip is still sporting that mustache.
EULOGY
Lions Gate Films
A Myriad Pictures presentation in association with Ovation Entertainment, Equity Pictures Medienfonds and S.R.O. Entertainment AF
Credits:
Director-writer: Michael Clancy
Producers: Steven Haft, Richard B. Lewis, Kirk D'Amico
Executive producers: Lucas Foster, Kendall Morgan, Bo Hyde, Rory Rosegarten, Jonas McCord, Shelly Glasser
Director of photography: Michael Chapman
Production designer: Dina Lipton
Music: George S. Clinton
Co-producers: Stefan Jonas, Jeanne Van Cott
Costume designer: Tracy Tynan
Editor: Richard Halsey
Cast:
Daniel Collins: Hank Azaria
Ryan Carmichael: Jesse Bradford
Kate Collins: Zooey Deschanel
Samantha: Glenne Headly
Judy Arnolds: Famke Janssen
Grandma Collins: Piper Laurie
Lucy Collins: Kelly Preston
Skip Collins: Ray Romano
Grandpa Collins: Rip Torn
Alice Collins: Debra Winger
Burt: Mark Harelik
Parson Banke: Rene Auberjonois
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 85 minutes...
- 10/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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