Funérailles d'enfer

This movie tries desperately to be in so many other movies footsteps that it just winds up tripping all over itself. This movie is essentially The Joy Luck Club's, Ugly Twin Sister. Although the writing is bad, it's not completely a mess. I do like that it tries to show that Chinese Americans are progressive in American society, but it never departs from some serious jingoistic dialog that seems borrowed from a bag of fortune cookies. The Family is actually a bore, but the writer thinks that by making one a lesbian, and another marry a Black Man would make them more interesting. Also, having all the non-family members play completely humble, somewhat quirky, incredibly understanding, and knowledgeable to the family's "attitude" is just unbelievable. The Directing is somewhat amateurish but better than some Chinese Soap Serials. The actors are all so stiff in their performances - I've seen better performances with claymation. On the bright side, Russle Wong's acting has improved just enough to be the best performance in the whole movie - that's bad.

I was intrigued by the story background because it seemed to offer a lot of potential on exploring the typical conflicts of a Chinese American family from the perspective of the children living with Western values and a parent with traditional Chinese background. The opening offers some hope of shedding some light but as the movie continued on, I realized that my expectations were not going to be met. The only reason why I continued to watch the entire movie was to watch the story unfold. The acting wasn't stellar but it wasn't that terrible either. I was trying to figure out what went wrong with this movie and decided it was a combination of the script and direction.

We were told about what happened between the mother and her children and how she was perceived by them and how through others they discovered a different side to her they never knew. That wasn't too well fleshed out either. This is a movie that I continue to keep saying had a lot of potential.

Sometimes the scenes try to make light of a situation or give us few laughs but they seemed manipulated and artificial. The characters seemed stiff and not very personal. It's not the fault of the actors but the lack of meat in the script to allow the actors to flesh out the characters and the directing. I'm not sure about why some parts of the plot were in the movie because they were pretty ridiculous and implausible. The twist is something pretty ridiculous that destroyed and hope of being taken seriously.

This is the problem of the movie. What does it want to be? A comedy? Drama? Both but with a twist and some sprinkling of life's lessons mixed in, all neatly tied up. If it was better focused with a tighter script it could have been much better.

I really wanted this movie to work for me and like I said, I watched it until the end hoping for something to redeem itself. The twist was stupid and unbelievable.

What a waste

This is a really bad film. The acting is really bad, and the audio even worse. The script is childish and coupled with the amateurish level of acting, it ends up at the level of a community theater production. Don't waste your time trying to watch it.... I lasted 20 minutes and that was more than enough!

First of all, let me begin by saying that I am appalled by critic reviews of this movie. Describing the film as 'predictable' and involving a 'typical Chinese-American family' is an insult to the cast and crew. There is nothing typical about this Chinese-American family. Seeing as how many film critics are introverted white Americans, it is easy for them to forget that these people have very different values than other Americans. To be able to critique this movie fairly, you must know a good deal about Asian culture on the whole. The 'predictable' twists that occur may be typical of your average American family--but in Asian families, it is more of a rarity.

Needless to say, I was quite surprised at some of the revelations the children had about their deceased mother, especially considering the fact she was born and raised in China. These revelations give a more human feel to the rigid culture of the Chinese, and give the movie substance.

Asian intolerance of infidelity, interracial marriage, and homosexuality is also explored in depth. This part of the movie personifies the characters before they even speak more than a few lines, and helps humanize the 'Dragon Lady' over the course of the movie. There is much more that I could say about this movie, but I believe I've said enough to offer a conclusion: As Americans, we don't generally put much thought into ideas like homosexuality, interracial marriage, and infidelity. Its all around us--and we become numb to it. But these ideas can become catalysts for mayhem in Asian families, where such ideas are shunned or outright forbidden. Understanding this fact will help you understand--and enjoy--the movie.

i came into this movie not really expecting much probably because I've seen a lot of Asian American films that ended up disappointing. that wasn't to be the case this time. dim sum funeral has a lot of stuff going for it. i found the family interactions pretty believable and universal (im Chinese American btw), the story had many plot lines and while yes, it could get somewhat episodic, there are actually many Hollywood movies that fall into this structure too and that's the nature of life, isn't it? throughout the movie, i was pretty entertained and didn't look at the time and felt myself caring for the characters which is the greatest compliment one can pay a story. i also absolutely loved the music. the simple piano music really reminded me of the east Asian aesthetic in films and the film became "more Asian" as a result. also, it gave the movie a ethereal and fleeting quality perfect for a movie about death and life. and i don't know how they got her but talia shire is wonderful in the film. it's really great to see her back and it was fun looking to see if the actors would be intimidated by her stature which they weren't. really, all the main characters and even bai ling which i normally cant stand do quite admirably.

all in all, dim sum funeral was a very nice, elegant and heartfelt surprise and i recommend it. 8 out of 10.