Finding the funny in a funeral with drop-dead funny comedians

   For some families, funerals can be emotionally exhausting — there’s the deceit, the extortion, the acid trips, the murder attempts. And, of course, there’s that minor detail of sending-off a departed loved one.

   The rapid remaking of a 2007 British film with the same name, “Death at a Funeral” is a killer comedy enhanced by its cluttered collection of stars, which include Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, Luke Wilson, James Marsden and Zoe Saldana. The cast has a comedic chemistry that could make endless entertainment out of almost any situation — even a funeral.

   Rock plays the part of Aaron, a grieving man who has lost his father and finds himself burdened with the responsibility of delivering the eulogy as well as delivering order to what quickly becomes a chaotic occasion.

   He is forced to deal with all kinds of family friction: an impatient wife who is ovulating and who’s biological clock is ticking, a brother who is trying to finagle his way out of contributing to the funeral funds, and the collective, candor disappointment of all his relatives in learning that he is giving his speech instead of his younger brother and a big-headed writer who is published yet penniless.

   On top of that, Aaron discovers that his father, who left his mother widowed, had been entertaining a lover before his death — even worse, it was a short-statured man who plans to exploit their affair to blackmail an inheritance. Aaron seems to be the only one in attendance who is interested in giving his father an adequate send-off.

   Aged profoundly, Glover provides many of the laughs in the role of Uncle Russell, the grumpy geriatric of the family who uses his cane as a weapon for when his verbal assaults don’t suffice. He travels around by collaboration of wheelchair and whoever gets stuck with the chore of hauling him around.

   Delegated with the duty of chauffeuring Uncle Russell to and around the funeral, Norman — played by Morgan — endures the brunt of the old man’s hostile outbursts as he is forced to concede to his every command. Uncle Russell is clearly unfamiliar with the saying, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” or rather, the hand that helps him onto the toilet and ultimately gets stuck underneath him during one hilariously horrifying scene.

   As Elaine, Saldana is reminiscent of her 2005 role in “Guess Who” with Ashton Kutcher, playing the spunky, defiant daughter to a man who detests her beau. Played by Marsden, Oscar is terrified to endure a day with his girlfriend’s family — especially her father. To pacify his panic, Elaine gives him what she believes to be her biologist brother’s Xanax but eventually causes him to have wild hallucinations, which doesn’t exactly help him in his efforts of winning over her family. 

   If there’s anything to be learned from this movie, it’s that the best tool for coping with grief is laughter — or homemade hallucinogens, whichever is more readily available.