This week, netflix sent us Death At A Funeral, Chris Rock's comedy about a family funeral and From Paris With Love, John Travolta's latest action romp.

Death At A Funeral was surprisingly good.  I happen to think Chris Rock is pretty funny but he actually played the straight man in this.  It's an ensemble piece and everyone is pretty good. The weak link, in my opinion, was Martin Lawrence, who played Rock's brother. He was the only one in the film who allowed his character to fall into an unattractive stereotype; horny older man drooling over hot teenager.  To whom is that funny?  Maybe it wasn't his fault, maybe  that's the way he had to play it, but I found it gross.  Not the age difference, but that his antics would work with any girl over the age of six.

Mostly, I was impressed that the script was so funny.  I was also struck by the fact that this film was set in the world of the Cosby show; black families that were upscale, educated and successful.  Hollywood usually doesn't like to admit that such families exist.  In fact, this movie could be recast with every single character a different race ( ie; all the black characters recast as Asians and the white characters recast as Hispanics,) and not a single line in the script would have had to be changed.  In fact, one of the funniest parts of the movie was Peter Dinklage (a little person), whose character was constantly referred to as "The guy in the leather jacket".  No one ever referred to him as a dwarf or midget and only once did someone mention that he was white.

James Marsden, who is fast becoming one of my favorite actors, is great!  Danny Glover plays a stock curmudgeonly old uncle but the very last scene in the movie allows him to steal the show.

From Paris with Love reminded me of something I forget all the time; I love John Travolta.

Fat, thin, with hair or bald, the guy is ALWAYS a treat to watch.  No matter what the role is, he throws himself into it and has a blast, whether the script is any good or not.  In this one, he plays Charlie Wax, a CIA operative who is practically the Angel of Death.  Yes, there's no suspense at all in a movie where the hero can actually shoot up thirty five people in a single gun battle without suffering so much as a cut from flying glass, but done right, it can be great fun, anyway and I thoroughly enjoyed this.  Lots of things blowing up, getting shot and some really good lines delivered while it's happening.

I really don't require much else in a movie.

Oh, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was good, too.

 

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