= 3 stars

Starring Alfred Molina, Naomi Watts, Christopher Walken
Directed by Nick Hurran

Amazon Link

This British trifle was released in the UK as Plots With A View, and would be rather disappointing in the theater, but as a rental it was just about right. It contained enough humor and silliness but not so much that I was in danger of missing anything each time I got up for another snack.

Boris Plots (Alfred Molina) and Frank Featherbed (Christopher Walken) are rival funeral directors in small town Wales, England. Molina is a by-the-book funeral director while Walken gilds his death beds with flair. The other subplot is Boris’ love for a married woman, Betty Rhys-Jones (Brenda Blethyn), whose husband is having a ridiculously obvious affair with red-everything trollop Meredith Mainwaring (Naomi Watts) who is constantly falling out of her too-tight outfits. Betty, much too nice to get a divorce, decides to join Boris in a nonsense plot to fake her death. Mediocre hilarity ensues.

Despite the potential humor of a live corpse, the film doesn’t ever take off into truly hilarious. Still, I was amused by its slightly quirky film style, resembling a watered-down Delicatessen or Brazil, and some random nonsense that only I’d find endearing like a Star Trek themed funeral and gratuitous over-usage of cats. Luckily, the decent cast keeps things from getting too nonsensical and if the thespian talents of Molina, Blethyn, and Walken don’t keep you amused, you can always gawk at Watts. Overall, Undertaking Betty was a fine antidote to a few slovenly evenings gorging on leftover Halloween candy.

IMDB: Undertaking Betty
Wikipedia: Undertaking Betty
Rotten Tomatoes: Undertaking Betty 40%

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Categories: 3 Star Movies, Movies :: Tags: 3 stars, Alfred Molina, Christopher Walken, Naomi Watts, Nick Hurran :: Trackback URL
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