User reviews

I work for a large video chain. I see so much product come on a weekly basis. And quite frankly, a lot of it is crap! I try to choose carefully. I look at the cover art, I read synopsis, I follow film production. I took this home and ended up watching it at 10:30 at night thinking I'll check it out a bit then go to bed. I ended up watching the whole thing. Now look, I'm not a film critic, a journalist, or pretentious film snob. I just know when I like something and if it works. I laughed my @*% off. That cast was a dream. Piper Laurie was wonderful as the matriarch of this goof ball family. I sat watching matching up personalities with my own family members. It's impossible not to. I won't go into story details. Just check it out. I think you will be glad you did.

When the patriarch of a dysfunctional family dies, his sons and daughters travel with their families to the funeral. While they stay in the house of the matriarch waiting for the funeral and the testament, secrets are exposed and wounds are opened in the relationships of the members.

Watching "Eulogy" for the second time, I found it a funny dark comedy. The humor is not easy, but the great cast has good performance and there are many cynical situations. The Brazilian title misleads the viewer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil) : "Um Funeral Muito Louco" ("A Very Crazy Funeral")

Just barely watchable, a few jokes were good. If you have nothing better to do on a weekend this is a good way to spend a couple of hours. If you miss Ray Ramano, this is for you. Most of the sibling situations are cliche. It's OKK.

I went into this film with high expectations considering the amazing cast and wasn't disappointed. It was consistently entertaining -- and often explosively funny.

Sometimes it felt like a throwback screwball comedy other times the comedy was more subtle and nuanced but it was always fun. Looked like it was gonna get a touch overly sentimental at the end but managed to bleach the saccharin out of the most "emotional" moments. A welcomed little performance piece film full of nice little moments.

Eulogy is just one hour and half of funny and easy entertainment. Nothing too sofisticated, not a lot of action, just akward conversations between three generations of a family, sometimes hilarious conversations that show the dysfunctionality between certain family members. The whole cast was perfect to play their characters. There are recognizable moments we all had at a family party what makes it even funnier. It's the kind of comedy I could watch a sequel of.

When the patriarch of a dysfunctional family dies, his sons and daughters travel with their families for the funeral. While they stay in the house of the matriarch waiting for the funeral and the testament, secrets are exposed and wounds are opened in the relationships of the members.

"Eulogy" is a boring and not funny dark comedy. The great cast is wasted in an unpleasant screenplay and the direction with heavy hand of Michael Clancy. The Brazilian title misleads the viewer. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil) : "Um Funeral Muito Louco" ("A Very Crazy Funeral")

This movie manages to put across a strong point without all the usual soppy stuff. There are some of your expected twists. But not once did i find myself thinking "well i have seen this before...". Because there really is no time for that. The movie will have you guessing all the way through, "what is this all leading too?".

The story moves fast and you have to be very awake to keep up with what happens. There are many little clever quirks and remarks that you will need to pay attention too. It helps add to the meat of the movie.

The characters are portrayed excellently by the cast. From the young to the old. The casting is excellent.

This is a good movie for those who think they have family issues...

Lately I have not seen many films at all that I really like or can honestly recommend. Then, as if from nowhere, my friend saw Eulogy on the stand at a movie rental place and said it sounded good. As soon as the rented DVD was in my DVD player and on the main menu it was hilarious! It's not usual that I have such an optimistic approach to movies before I even see them, so I knew I was in for something good. During the movie there were several parts where we laughed so hard that we continuously had to rewind and catch up on parts that we laughed through. It's cynical, tongue-in-cheek, and good-natured. It has the sense of humor and attitude that real people have, and that's what's great about it. One thing that's rare in movies is something real. When you watch the movie you get the feel that you're dealing with real people, which is why this film is so easy to enjoy. It's like watching real people in hilarious situations. I've now recommended this film to dozens of people. Yes, Eulogy is an automatic favorite.

This film was written by somebody who understands what it's like to try to be noticed (appreciated) when bigger acts are constantly outshining you: it's the theme that pops up repeatedly with each character. So if I could tell the writers something directly, it would be: "Relax. And stop trying So Hard, and quit being So Obvious about it. You've got what it takes already. Then maybe one day you can actually succeed, and they will all Really Like You." Eulogy, as an ensemble cast in the tradition of The Big Chill, will be a familiar format to most: a death in the family (the father in this case)forces all the grown children, and the grandchildren, to reunite for the funeral. It's an uncomfortable family gathering to say the least, because, in true Hollywood tradition, there are plenty of secrets and resentments to be revealed as they plan the final arrangements and "comfort" their inexplicably suicidal mother. In a family where everybody's a frustrated diva, the stage is set for plenty of hysterics and dramatics.

This film wants to be the quirky Big Chill of its generation, and it partially succeeds. The cast (good, underused talent for the most part, including Piper Laurie as the widowed matriarch and Hank Azaria as a struggling has-been-turned-porn-star son)is certainly up to the task, but the writing paces unevenly between staple comedy clichés and shock value moments. Oh look, the grownup sisters are settling their long-held grudges with a jiujitsu catfight on the dining room rug! Ew, the 12 year old twin nephews are making lewd comments along with Ray Romano, their dad! You get the gist. There are some LOL moments and some chuckles sprinkled sporadically throughout a script that is desperately trying to jam-pack the humor into every crevice.

Throughout the never ending and embarrassing family hijinks and trips to the hospital, we have Kate Collins, our heroine, dealing with her own side plot drama. She has a childhood bestie whom she eventually developed feelings for as they became teenagers, but it ended after the first kiss when for unexplained reasons, she broke it off and basically fled. Ryan still lives in town, and now that Kate has resurfaced for the funeral, he sees his chance to win her back. Played by indie-favorite Zooey Deschanel (in her usual, reliably quirky, cute-girl persona), Kate is the least "drama-queen" of the bunch; you have to wonder if she's the changeling in this family.

So by the end, I had enjoyed Eulogy for its sometimes-witty dialog and formulaic feel-good moments. There is quite a lot of heart behind all of the bluster. It was a pleasant way to pass an evening, all things considered.

Like a dog chasing it's tail this movie goes nowhere. Too many characters it becomes confusing, and eventually crashes into total silliness. This is NOT black comedy, it is idiotic try and be as strange as possible boredom. Constantly starting new angles and then somehow trying to tie a story together out of these disjointed fragments does not make for entertainment. Some of the characters were so uninteresting and boorish that they could have been written out entirely and actually improve the film by shortening it. Avoid at all costs even if it is in the cheap bin. It is a waste of time, talent, and celluloid. - MERK

This film started off our 2004 Film Festival. And you thought YOUR family was dysfunctional? It's hard to laugh about death but the performances here were literally first rate. A MUST SEE!!! Piper Laurie's performance alone is worth the price of admission, and D. Winger is in a whole new kind of role, as is Ray Romano. The twins who play Romano's sons would almost have stolen the picture if the other performances hadn't been so strong. It's a perfect picture of how "old stuff" comes back to haunt you in families and how in some ways we never grow up, we just grow older. This has just the right combination of serious stuff to think about and laugh out loud amazing humor to make a great entertainment experience.

Very well made...this is the only movie that i like that was about a girl who has a very messed up family and falls in love after her graps kicks the bucket...the best part of this film is the BIG twist in the end so go watch it to find out...and now because of the guide lines i have to right more...um...Hank Azaria is not the main character... Ray Ramano is really funny in this...and Rip Torn is only in like two sense but hes good in both...actually to correct myself there are a lot of twists in this movie...about 3... try to figure them out before they show them...Freken A i still don't have enough um well a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z... OK there are lesbians and porno and drugs...thats why its R... um there are only a few bad words its not that bad...and i hope you enjoy it

My problem with this movie is that I expected it to be hilarious. With it's incredible cast how could it miss? But miss it did, badly. Hank Azaria? Piper Laurie? Debra Winger? Glenne Headly? Famke Janssen? Rip Torn? (not enough Rip) And Zooey Deschanel? In truth, I enjoyed all their performances; I disliked the dialog and direction. Almost everything seemed contrived at best and forced at worst. The surprises weren't very and the end could not come soon enough. The characters that were meant to irritate me did and most of the others did as well. As a survivor of a dysfunctional family, I enjoy DF comedies; this one seemed longer than my childhood.

Eulogy is centered around the death of a family patriarch, Edmund Collins (Rip Torn). After the death comes the funeral, which is where this story takes place, from the time of his death up until the funeral, where this quite dysfunctional family has to live together for the next few days. An ordinary cast could not have done the job that this one did. They turned what seemed to be a regular movie into a pretty funny movie. I guess it was supposed to be a dark comedy, but it was not all that dark to me. The character development was quite good, for a movie that featured so many key players, it manages to let you get to know just about everyone pretty well.

Kate Collins (Zooey Deschanel) is the granddaughter of Edmund and is asked by her grandmother to deliver the eulogy, something she was hesitant about doing, considering she really knew very little about the man. Despite her constant asking, her family could not come up with any nice stories about her grandfather to tell. Zooey is pretty much the straight (wo)man in this comedy.

Daniel Collins (Hank Azaria) is Edmund's son and Kate's father. Daniel was a child actor whose big fame came when he coined a catch phrase in a peanut butter commercial, making him Edmund's favorite son. He and Skip Collins (Ray Romano) were my favorite characters.

Skip Collins is Edmund's son and Kate's uncle. Skip was the son who was always trying to get his father's attention and felt he was the unloved one because of Daniel's success. He was probably the funniest character in the movie, along with his twin sons and Daniel.

The twin sons of Skip are named Fred and Ted Collins (Curtis and Keith Garcia). They are at that age where pretty much everything turns them on, so when their aunt and her "lifemate" showed up, it was all fun for them.

There are many more characters and dysfunctional family situations here that I could not get to them all in a short review, but this movie turned out better than I would have thought and is worth watching at least once. 7/10

Kate Collins (Zooey Deschanel) receives news of her grandfather's death from her grandmother Charlotte Collins (Piper Laurie). The various members of the family gather for the funeral in Rhode Island. Her father Daniel Collins (Hank Azaria) was a child star reduced to porn acting. Her uncle Skip (Ray Romano) and Lily (Paget Brewster) have rambunctious twin boys. Her aunt Lucy (Kelly Preston) is a lesbian with girlfriend Judy Arnolds (Famke Janssen). Her angry aunt Alice (Debra Winger) dominates her submissive husband with their three silent kids. Charlotte asks Kate to deliver an eulogy at the funeral. Kate tries to avoid childhood love Ryan Carmichael (Jesse Bradford). After Charlotte's suicide attempt, they meet Alice's old friend nurse Samantha (Glenne Headly).

This is written and directed by newcomer Michael Clancy. I love many of the great actors in the cast. Zooey Deschanel is super adorable. The homophobic Alice is probably the most hateful. It's a lot of quirky darkness but it's not always that funny. It rambles a bit but I still love the actors.

It's a comedy about a dysfunctional family which has to do the ceremonial burial of their patriarch and don't even know very well how to do it… The last part of the movie is a bit calmer but the first 45 minutes are just hilarious, with plenty comical scenes about this dysfunctional, but extremely comical, family. Almost all characters are funny and well conceived, but I would like to mention the twin brothers! God, those kids are hilarious! They play very funny roles and do a good acting job. The guy who plays their father's role is also very comical. But a special mention must be done to Zooey Deschanel! I love that actress! In fact I bought this DVD because of her and I wasn't disappointed! She's gorgeous and she has such a tender and sweet expression (to not mention those big and beautiful blue eyes!). Besides, she's a good actress too!:)

Anyway, it's a very well humoured film in spite of having a funeral as plot's background, so my vote is 7/10!

Upon the death of their father (Rip Torn), a family of oddballs comes together to remember a man they hardly knew. Trouble-making twins, a suicidal grandmother, a former porn star, unaccepted lesbians and the girl next door (Zooey Deschanel) make up part of the cast of characters... and the only thing you can expect from them is the unexpected.

My friend Chelsea forced me at gunpoint to watch this film, which she swears is her favorite. That is such a lie -- her favorite is "Casper", and don't let her tell you otherwise. But this is a good film, so I'm not upset I had to see it. My biggest concern, in fact, was Ray Romano, who I normally dislike. He was a very enjoyable character in this film, being the father of the two little hellions.

I think most families are dysfunctional in some sense. But unless yours is completely crazy, watching the people in this film will likely make you feel much better about those around you. My family is quite wonderful, personally, but this movie made me appreciate them even more.

You'd think that with a cast that includes Ray Romano, Glenn Headly, Debra Winger, Hank Azaria and a whole bunch of other talented people, a movie wouldn't blow chunks.

But you'd be wrong. This stinker is so chunky, you might want to watch it with a fork. Not even my fondness for Debra Winger (who stole my heart in Forget Paris)could make me enjoy this movie.

Rip Torn is a familial patriarch whose death brings together what is perhaps one of the most dysfunctional families ever filmed. There's not a balanced person among them, and each character has all the depth of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. (The ultra cool Jonny Quest notwithstanding.)

I believe the producers were going for something akin to The Royal Tenenbaums, but instead wound up with some tired characters we've seen many times before:

Oldest son who feels that Dad never loved him? Check. (Ray Romano, doing his shtick. He's really funny, but maybe he should add some stuff to his routine.)

Middle daughter who is dutiful and bitter? Yup. (Debra Winger, who normally approaches goddess hood for me, but here is just plain sad.)

Second son who appeared to be the favorite but was really stuck in a pattern of trying to please someone who was never around? You bet. (Hank Azaria, how did they blackmail you into this movie?)

Youngest daughter who rebels by becoming a lesbian? Uh huh. (Kelly Preston, who looked as if she were sleepwalking through this film.)

Sultry lesbian girlfriend? Ditto. (Famke Janssen, slumming. I keep waiting for this actor to get a role worthy of her. Perhaps I give her more credit than she deserves because I think she's cute.)

Distraught mother who dismisses the father's faults by saying "He made me laugh"? Gotcha. (Piper Laurie had the best lines in this show, if you ask me.)

Hot post-adolescent (but not quite adult) granddaughter struggling to find meaning? Oh yeah. (Zooey Deschanel, who can be mesmerizing and really, really, really tries hard to make this role work.)

Wacky neighbor who knows a 'startling' family secret? Mmmm-hamm. (Glenn Headley, who is most of the time quite remarkable, is wasted here.)

Finally, the sensitive boyfriend who knows exactly what to say? Sure. (The immensely forgettable Jesse Bradford.)

We've seen all of these people before. We've seen them in better movies, with better scripts, and it was hard to care about any of these people. The only character that viewers come even close to caring about is the granddaughter, because she's as close to 'normal' as this movie lets the viewer get. She's the most like us, so we are supposed to care. It's an 'okay' performance, but Winona Rider did this 20 years ago in Mermaids.

The plot, such as it is, lurches between 'funny' bits of lowbrow comedy that is so pedestrian and predictable that I could check it off as we went:

Everyone gets a grand entrance.

Everyone gets a moment to display an idiosyncrasy.

Everyone gets to quip about the dead father.

Contrivances abound to escalate the conflict.

Things build up to a boiling point and then there's a release. And without spoiling the movie for anyone, a comedic explosion in which no one is harmed.

Then these disparate characters make up with each other, after a fashion.

And that's the end.

If Hollywood stopped making films about dysfunctional families there'd be a real drought in the theaters and on DVD shelves. "Eulogy" is a pretty conventional tale but it's well-acted.

The paterfamilias, grandfather, is dead, apparently by his own hand, and the family - immediate and extended - arrives at the grieving widow's home to prepare for the funeral immediately resuming hostilities over well-aged feuds and hurts. Nothing surprising here.

Zooey Deschanel as Kate is a college student who seems to be the most normal member of an eclectic and eccentric crew. Her grandmother is Piper Laurie and, have no fear, those who remember the beautiful young actress of an earlier Silver Screen age won't recognize her here. How the mighty have...aged.

Hank Azaria has a fun(ny) role as a loser with a heart.

Deborah Winger turns in a first-rate performance as Kate's shrewish Aunt Alice who exudes homophobia at a sister who arrives with her fiancé (or fiancée), a sharp, observant woman. Alice, is married to a drone who without barely a word smiles ceaselessly and seems on the verge of drooling.

Their three kids are also silent, probably disturbed big time. And two nasty pre-teen twins of Alice's brother make Dennis the Menace a choir boy by comparison.

No character here that hasn't been seen in many movies and TV sitcoms. But there's a thread of drama with the zany comedy that makes "Eulogy" a mite different if whacked out family stories intrigue you.

It's an ensemble production - see the IMDb.com main page for the full cast. But Ms. Deschanel, with her dark eyes and sharp takes at her family members' antics, is the acting center of the flick.

8/10 (barely but I laughed a lot).

I agree that this film has a cult following for the usual reasons -- and it definitely has some good one-liners. For some movie-goers (like me, for example) it will be problematic, however, because of the overload of characters and story lines, uneven pacing, and outlandish aspects.

Ray Romano and Debra Winger headline a nice cast in a story about the funeral of the family patriarch, which forces a gathering of an odd mix of characters with a checkered history. Funerals (and weddings) have potential for comedy with this "forced gathering" aspect. However, the movie quickly becomes chaotic -- a slam-bang affair with weaving consistency. It's worth seeing for the one-liners and gags, but don't expect a finely tuned and focused product.

I can't believe the folks writing the GOOD reviews were watching the same movie. This was a big waste of time and talent. (except for Ray Romano, probably the most UN-funny comedian alive today. he has no talent. "hi ma, sorry about dad, eeyyyaaauuuhhhh") A pitiful story line, idiotic gags ( hey, someones at the door, I think ill leave the porno playing in the VCR while I hide in the closet!) This is one of those marvels of movies, a comedy during which i didn't-laugh-once. not one time. I got a slight giggle out of the priest, but maybe I was laughing at myself for sitting through the movie long enough to get to that point. File this one under "A" for "avoid it like plague". sorry folks **you couldn't make me laugh if I was already laughing my ass off, and you were making me do it!--peter griffin***

For all the sour, lemon faced people out there who thought this movie was pointless, plot less and laugh-less, obviously you weren't watching the same movie as I was.

This movie is smart and funny, with an amazing cast. Anyone watching will feel connected on a personal level to at least one of the characters. Will it be the caring, normal granddaughter, the suicidal grandmother, the control freak sister, the black-sheep brother, the lesbian sister or her hilarious lesbian lover, or maybe it'll be the pot smoking ex-actor? Who knows, but trust me you will find solice in one of these people.

I highly recommend this movie for anyone looking for a laugh at something a bit morbid.

That's about it. The gallows and sexual humor are at times pretty funny, but the characters are all given problems taken to the point of absurdity. Having funny lines spoken by characters that don't seem real seems to take the edge off the humor. Still, having so many big names together is great to watch (Azaria and Romano, while they look nothing alike, are completely believable as brothers, maybe they should work together again), but their kids are all caricatures, not characters. They all seem to represent the embodiments of the worst aspects of their parents. This is excepting Zooey Deschannel's character, Kate, the "normal" one in the family, the emotional baseline with which the audience identifies. While not a straight lead, is involved in most of the events. Overall, it felt like an attempt at a Tenenbaumsy dysfunction covered over with outrageous dialogue, but it didn't quite make it.

Two notes. There's a brief snip in the TV commercial of Rip Torn sitting up in the coffin at the funeral that isn't in the film. And stay through the credits for a final zinger.

Okay, based on the reviews I read here I went out and rented this flick.

I'm totally clueless as to why this film is getting such good reviews here. I consider myself a pretty savvy moviegoer and also as one who looks for the high points in every film I see.

Eulogy is a film where, in each frame, all the actors as a whole behave in the most atrocious ways imaginable. There are some pretty good actors in this mix and the fact that they not only have some of the most horrendous dialogue in the history of film but turn in their worst performances on celluloid should be considered a miracle.

Getting through this 85-minute mess required more patience than I've ever had to muster. I only made it through the whole thing because I wanted to be able to honestly say I saw this movie and it is all-the-way through horrible.

The chief offender here is not the director Michael Clancy (although for writing and directing this film there should be a special category at the Razzie's named for him) but Debra Winger. For someone that claims to have lost so much faith in the film industry and in women's roles she rears her head here in an almost unbelievably bad performance. There was one point in the film where I seriously considered the fact she was giving this performance on purpose so as to show us what Hollywood will film and release. If this isn't the case, she should be ashamed of herself and should be banished to making the rounds at "Urban Cowboy" conventions for the rest of her existence.

Kelly Preston doesn't know any better...she couldn't pick a winning film if her life depended on it. Ray Romano obviously is a limited television actor since what he basically does here is just a foul-mouthed version of Ray Barone. Hank Azaria is clearly slumming it and Famke Janssen (who I adore) shouldn't venture any further into comedy.

Even the great Zooey Deschanel looks embarrassed to be in this turkey. She knows this film is crap and, like Debra Winger, seems to be trying her hardest to be her worst.

In film, there can be characters that you dislike, don't relate to, and can't stand to see on screen. To make a film like Eulogy where even a birthday cake turns in a bad performance makes you wonder if the cast and creatives don't deserve some special commendation for film treachery.

This film is a pile. Avoid it.