Death at a Funeral (directed by Neil LaBute, 2010) is perhaps the most frustrating kind of remake Hollywood can produce. Not only is the original film (directed by Frank Oz, 2007), which is about a funeral that spirals out of control, a riot entirely on its own, but it’s already in English! This isn’t a case of producers doubting an audience’s desire to read subtitles, this is a case of producers saying, “Hey, that script was funny. Give it to us.”
Starring Chris Rock, James Marsden, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Loretta Devine & Keith David
The only thing that separates Oz’s film from LaBute’s is that the latter’s is stocked almost entirely with black actors. Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to make a movie a more urban crowd can enjoy; however, the casting of each individual role is just wrong. If they had kept the same actors and just shuffled the roles it would have made a drastic difference, particularly if Chris Rock, who does not do subtle, emotion-driven material well at all, had been instead played by Columbus Short. But as it stands, the whole thing is painfully artificial and loses all of the spontaneity and heart the original had. Source