A Texas Funeral

The performances are excellent. I did not even recognize Olivia D'Abo.

It would be impossible to explain the plot of this film, and that is one of the reasons why I like it so much.

The film touches on the importance of family ties, without being sappy. It touches on the the importance of forgiveness, without being preachy.

It has plenty of "quirky" characters and situations, but not so much as to make them ridiculous. That is not to say that they are not absurd, and that is a good thing.

It is not a ghost story as some synopses might cause one to believe. (Albeit, I might not have watched it if it were not for my being given that idea from a Comcast blurb.)

I recommend A Texas Funeral to anybody who likes films that have plots that are difficult to detect in which direction they are going to go, but are a joy to follow.

"A Texas Funeral" could have been better, but there wasn't anything resoundingly bad about it. It was a quirkily comical view of a family reunion brought about by the death of the family's atriarch, and the characters had an authentic 1960's Texas flavor to them.

Everyone except grandma had at least one moment of personal revelation, and everyone got something good out of the deal. It was a pretty "feel good" kind of movie, and it was sufficiently funny to compensate for its lack of depth.

If you see rent this on video as an excuse to eat hot buttered popcorn, you won't be disappointed. If you are expecting great cinema, you will be.

I am a Texan. I loved this movie. I will buy it for home viewing. The story was an excellent "slice-of-life tale and genuinely made me homesick. While I enjoyed the performances of all the actors I was particularly drawn to Martin Sheen ( as I always am ) and I couldn't help but watch Christopher Noth in amazement.His range of emotions is amazing. We become attached to the truly honest performers...the ones who make us believe. He is one of those. I liked the relaxed style of this Texas movie and the funny moments. I'll never look at a camel in quite the same way again. Or my husband's ears.

Given how long this film took to get from filming to any sort of release (and I'm still not sure how widely it was ever released in theaters) I had feared that it would be a stinker. I followed it because one of my vintage cars was used in filming, and I'd just about given up on ever actually seeing the finished product. My car never made it on screen, having been barely out of frame in a scene set at a hospital, but the movie turned out to be quite, quite good. I wonder how well it might play outside of Texas, and seriously doubt it would have much international attraction, but for me it was a breath of fresh air. Characters full of enough eccentricities to be actual Texans like me, but not the typical overblown 'Hollywierd' caricatures of Texans that make me sick. Somewhere in the production crew, there was obviously someone with at least a fair understanding of Texas folklore and culture. Not quite the skill and depth of Tim McCanlies' Texas-based movies ('Seconhand Lions' and 'Dancer Texas' which for me set the standard by which all Texas-based films should be judged) but still with a similar feel.

This movie was interesting to say the least. Upon the death of the head of a family with a colorful history, the family gathers for a funeral and a lot of family secrets are revealed.

Its not terribly serious in tone although it gets heavy in parts. The nervousness regarding the Black man in their midst was funny and rather true of the time and place. It certainly had humor which balanced the heavy subject of past wrongs and injustices and as the facade each person holds up starts to crack.

Its hard to classify such a film that is trying to be a little of everything. It couldn't be but it was interesting watching them try.

In the end the movie was engaging and I found myself genuinely interested and invested in most of the characters. So much so that I almost wish they could have had 'a what happened to these characters' segment at the end as I wanted to know how it all turned out for each person!! Worth a watch.