The Funeral (1996)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 4,217
Movie Info
Cult figure Abel Ferrara directed this dark, emotional tale of life among the criminal underworld, set in the late 1930s. The Tempio Brothers -- Ray (Christopher Walken), Chez (Chris Penn), and Johnny (Vincent Gallo) -- work with the mob; Ray is the cool and methodical type, Chez is an angry man who tends to fly off the handle, and Johnny is the odd man out, whose work with labor unions has given him a strong interest in socialism. When Johnny is murdered by rival mobster Gaspare (Benicio del
Nov 1, 1996 Wide
Jul 11, 2000
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Cast
-
-
Chris Penn
Chez -
Vincent Gallo
Johnny -
Isabella Rossellini
Clara -
Annabella Sciorra
Jeannette -
Benicio Del Toro
Gaspare -
Paul Hipp
Ghouly -
Gretchen Mol
Helen -
John Ventimiglia
Sali -
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The Funeral Trailer & Photos
All Critics (36) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (7) | DVD (2)
Though directed in different style, thematically, this period movie is a companion piece to King of New York and The Bad Lieutenant, forming an urban crime trilogy and representing Ferrara's best work.
A brilliant, very visceral piece of film-making with an infectious strain of morbid humour.
Top Critic[Ferrara] still finds sharp new ways to explore the nuances of a trite-sounding story.
You're engaged on a moral level rarely found in movies about violence.
Now here is a gangster movie that does not want setups or payoffs like traditional gangster movies.
Film after film, Ferrara and St. John are finding new ways to scream.
The Funeral is yet another fresh take on the gangster flick.
Anticlimactic and unconvincing.
A psychologically strung-out tale stuffed full of ideas and inspired moments.
The corpse, the corpse, the corpse!
One of Ferrara's more bearable fims. Solid performances.
With a cast like that, one would expect fireworks on the screen. Unfortunately, this never happens.
A strong portrait of gangsters from Abel Ferrara, one of cinemas best provocateurs.
Some viewers may enjoy watching the lifestyles of the grim and depraved; others will find that sitting through "The Funeral" is like going to celluloid hell.
We have seen Martin Scorsese's gangster films, and Abel Ferrara, you are no Martin Scorsese.
Call it Bad Mafia Lieutenant.
The picture works despite the bizarre ending.
Nobody spins a good morality yarn like Abel Ferrara.
Ferrara's eerie version of crime-wracked New York City of the 1930s.
Audience Reviews for The Funeral
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Ray: Yeah-well, fuck them, and their flowers.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Great Film | 7 months ago | 0 |
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Movie: ID: 16702 Title: The Funeral Release Date: 1996-11-01 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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"One family, one murder, too many lies."
What makes The Funeral a better than average gangster film is solid performances from underrated actors like Chris Penn and Vincent Gallo, and strong performances from its bigger names, Christopher Walken and Benicio Del Toro. The Funeral winds up being a really well made and acted film, even if it didn't become a great movie. The story isn't anything we haven't seen before, but the superb acting makes it feel like you are watching this storyline for the first time.
What The Funeral does do well is make its case for more of a family drama then a true gangster film. Although it's still a gangster film, as it gets going it relies more and more on the family drama and less and less on he actual ins and outs of the business. It's actually a pretty slow moving drama for most of the runtime and then within the last 10 minutes, the plot goes crazy and leaves the viewer with a weird feeling. I can't say I was at all surprised by the ending, but watching happen that quickly was a surprise. The ending turns out to be cool because director Abel Ferrera didn't feel the need to add melodrama or draw it out, but it also feels rushed for this same reason.
Either way I thoroughly enjoyed The Funeral despite its structural problems. There wasn't a bad performance from the cast and that ends up being enough to win me over on this one.