‘They’re criminals, and there’s absolutely nothing romantic about it...’
We live in a world of distraction. During this movie, my laptop touchpad started behaving erratically and the cat was also doing weird cat stuff throughout. This means that I might not have given The Funeral my undivided attention. Or perhaps this could be viewed in a different light. The Funeral never grabbed my attention…
Following the funeral of a family member, a criminal clan embark on a journey of bloody self-discovery. Ray (Christopher Walken) skulks menacingly in dark corners. Chez (Chris Penn) engages in the kind of party lifestyle that would make Charlie Sheen blush. And Gaspare (Benicio Del Toro) is also knocking around. Although nowhere near enough for my liking.
So, we have a compelling cast, headed up by a knockout performance from Penn who channels every splash of Nic Cage-esque craziness that he can. We have an interesting premise. What we don’t have is a director who can pull it all together into something coherent. Abel Ferrara bathes The Funeral in noir-ish blacks and reds but this only succeeds in making the whole thing confusing. Nicholas St, John’s script doesn’t help either. You never really gain a sense of who these characters are, nor their motivations. Unfortunately, just being Chris Walken isn’t always enough (although quite often in his career, it has been enough. Boy, does the camera love that guy).
In the end, what is a promising idea on paper falls into the sludge of a thousand other crime thrillers that followed in the wake of Goodfellas.
There are so many great films in this genre out there. Watch one of them instead.