Funeral Kings Reviews
thepersonwhowatchesmovies
August 12, 2012
The directing duo of Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus begin their debut feature with someone else's end: An in progress funeral procession. Family and friends of the newly departed grieve and sadly weep as the now deceased elderly man lays in his casket, wearing his final suit. An older priest is leading the somber occasion, quietly chanting prayers as the man's loved ones tearfully look onward; filled with both sadness and melancholy. Two twelve year old altar boys are assisting the priest with the procession, but their focus isn't on the suitably depressing event, nor the man whose precious life had just been stripped away. Rather, it is on the gigantic hanging breasts of a college aged mourner, leaning down to wipe the tears from her face. For these almost teenagers, funerals, religion, and common decency don't nearly compare to simply staring at boobies. Just from the opening alone, you know exactly what you're getting: The typical teenagers-wanna-get-laid-and-be-cool raunchy comedy, but this time, you know, with kids instead.
There's an almost gimmicky lowest common denominator comedy in watching tweens swear like sailors and act like wannabe college players, and even during the beginning funeral procession, the McManus brothers' script reaches Kevin Smith levels of profanity. Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, and to a lesser extent Charles Odei, are essentially written and played as three younger versions of Jay from Smith's Clerks, with the scene stealing innocent Jordan Puzzo to serve as their reluctant Silent Bob. Together the gang rob movie rental houses for porn, carelessly shoot handguns, try to go to high school parties, blow off class, smoke cigarettes, attempt to get laid, set off illegal fireworks, get back at drug dealers, and help with funerals for the free wine. They're carefree, rebellious, and some of the most unlikable protagonists I've seen in a very long time.
Once the wild antics of the gang eventually get tiresome somewhere around the 30 minute mark, it quickly becomes apparent that there's no real reason for this movie to exist. The characters are sadly unfleshed out and two-dimensional, the script keeps pumping out four letter words until they've completely lost impact, and the plot is flimsy at best. The McManus brothers seem to believe that we enjoy the gimmickry of swearing kids enough that no substance is necessary, but this isn't the case at all. Maybe as a short this philosophy would've worked, but for a feature is fails miserably.
If you believe Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel need to be far edgier, this movie may be for you. It has all the plot of a mediocre sitcom about about tweens, just with a lot more profanity and irritation. In fact, this very select group may be the only possible audience for the film. Simply put: It's not very good. At all.
Grade: D+
(Funeral Kings was shown as part of the Rhode Island International Film Festival)
The directing duo of Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus begin their debut feature with someone else's end: An in progress funeral procession. Family and friends of the newly departed grieve and sadly weep as the now deceased elderly man lays in his casket, wearing his final suit. An older priest is leading the somber occasion, quietly chanting prayers as the man's loved ones tearfully look onward; filled with both sadness and melancholy. Two twelve year old altar boys are assisting the priest with the procession, but their focus isn't on the suitably depressing event, nor the man whose precious life had just been stripped away. Rather, it is on the gigantic hanging breasts of a college aged mourner, leaning down to wipe the tears from her face. For these almost teenagers, funerals, religion, and common decency don't nearly compare to simply staring at boobies. Just from the opening alone, you know exactly what you're getting: The typical teenagers-wanna-get-laid-and-be-cool raunchy comedy, but this time, you know, with kids instead.
There's an almost gimmicky lowest common denominator comedy in watching tweens swear like sailors and act like wannabe college players, and even during the beginning funeral procession, the McManus brothers' script reaches Kevin Smith levels of profanity. Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, and to a lesser extent Charles Odei, are essentially written and played as three younger versions of Jay from Smith's Clerks, with the scene stealing innocent Jordan Puzzo to serve as their reluctant Silent Bob. Together the gang rob movie rental houses for porn, carelessly shoot handguns, try to go to high school parties, blow off class, smoke cigarettes, attempt to get laid, set off illegal fireworks, get back at drug dealers, and help with funerals for the free wine. They're carefree, rebellious, and some of the most unlikable protagonists I've seen in a very long time.
Once the wild antics of the gang eventually get tiresome somewhere around the 30 minute mark, it quickly becomes apparent that there's no real reason for this movie to exist. The characters are sadly unfleshed out and two-dimensional, the script keeps pumping out four letter words until they've completely lost impact, and the plot is flimsy at best. The McManus brothers seem to believe that we enjoy the gimmickry of swearing kids enough that no substance is necessary, but this isn't the case at all. Maybe as a short this philosophy would've worked, but for a feature is fails miserably.
If you believe Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel need to be far edgier, this movie may be for you. It has all the plot of a mediocre sitcom about about tweens, just with a lot more profanity and irritation. In fact, this very select group may be the only possible audience for the film. Simply put: It's not very good. At all.
Grade: D+
May 27, 2013
Ps. Os atores são de uma idade correspondente ao personagem, nada mais canastrão do que gente de 25 fazendo papel de 16.
Comédia simpática que conta a adolescência de 4 garotos "coroinhas" em uma cidade americana. Bem bacana, bem filmado e serviu para mostrar que nem só de perder a virgindade vive uma adolescência. Problemas, aventuras, medos e tudo que a adolescência tem de melhor. Muito bom, recomendo viu!
Ps. Os atores são de uma idade correspondente ao personagem, nada mais canastrão do que gente de 25 fazendo papel de 16.
April 29, 2013
One of the funniest movies about selfish, vulgar, horny 14-year-olds in quite some time.
March 3, 2013
I didn't like this film as much as I wanted to, but those kids need a good beating.
March 2, 2013
Once you get past all the forced vulgarity coming from the leads, it's a pretty enjoyable movie and they all still work well together. Also, I guess I'll be the first to say it, but it's kind of unrealistic. That doesn't make the movie any worse, though. It has its problems, but I liked it.
March 2, 2013
Adolescent dilemmas, oh boy. I really do get what they were going for here, honestly, I do. It's daring and inventive, but I also don't find too much of it funny, nor do I find any of these young personalities fleshed out enough to even begin to relate to.
March 18, 2012
It suffers a bit from bad dialogue and acting (they're kids, come on), but for the most part it's very funny and entertaining, and the montages set to music are incredible.
