Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Enchanted (2007) - vs - Penelope (2006)

Sorta Fractured Fairy Tales

The Smackdown.  You gotta love a good ole' fashioned fairy tale!  Despite centuries of far-fetched stories involving glass shoes that don't shatter when you run down a flight of stairs and women who can sleep for a hundred years and not age a day (if only!) audiences still love to be swept off their feet with tales of romance, villainy, and happily ever after.  Today's fairy tales are a twisted version of these Grimm stories, complete with cynicism, satire, sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek delivery.  "Penelope" (2006) and "Enchanted" (2007), both recent DVD releases, duke it out one fairy tale stereotype at a time.   

The Challenger.  "Enchanted" was a smashing success at the box office ($340 plus million) and exploded onto the DVD scene ($40 million) with a ton of fairy dust.  Starring Amy Adams, as the perfect princess-to-be, Patrick Dempsey, the would-be hero, James Marsden, as the gallant prince, with direction from animator Kevin Lima, and written by Bill Kelly, there certainly was enough star power and studio money to guarantee wide theatrical distribution and a fantastic marketing campaign.  The story was modern and cartoonish, capitalizing on both types of Disney fans, as it followed the fairy land maiden Giselle (Adams), after she is quite literally thrown into modern day by an evil witch/step-mother/Queen (Susan Sarandon).  The clumsy princess bride stumbles upon Robert (Dempsey) and his daughter who opt to assist the fair lady in her quest to get home.  The Prince, hearing of the witch's plot, follows his true love to Times Square, and arrogantly (yet, charmingly) saunters through New York City to rescue her.

Death At a Funeral (2007) -vs- Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

The Smackdown. British comedies are a class unto their own.  They simply have a way of demonstrating the quirkiness of ordinary human interaction in the face of outrageous circumstances that include the inevitable events of life.  What's more inevitable than death and taxes?  Family events!  Funerals, weddings, wakes, baptisms, a briss... what they have in common is that you're required to be there and even if you don't want to be present, British propriety demands you learn to fake it well.  These two Brit comedies, the recent DVD release Death at a Funeral and the 1994 Hugh Grant vehicle Four Weddings and a Funeral combine daft humor, classic Shakespearean story points and characterization which rings both true and outlandish at the same time.  Let's say you've got the popcorn popping and a significant somebody on the couch:  which of these films that want to tickle your funny bone and pull at your heart strings is the one to rent for the night?

The Challenger.  Death at a Funeral, directed by Frank Oz, (Yes! Miss Piggy directs real people!) and starring Matthew MacFadyen of Pride & Prejudice takes place at (you guessed it) a funeral.  Daniel's (MacFadyen) father has died and now the loyal and faithful son who lives with his wife in the family home must somehow organize the event, give the eulogy that no one wants to hear (his successful brother is a New York novelist), placate his grumpy Great Uncle Alfie, who he shoves off onto a bumbling friend with hilarious results, payoff a blackmailing midget harboring a family secret, and dodge his wife who asks every time she sees him if he's put the deposit on their new flat, where she hopes to move the moment the coffin is in the ground.  Add the classic Shakespearean story point (the mislaid letter, or in this case, the mislaid and consumed bottle of psychotropic pills disguised as Valium), an unwelcome sexual advance and viola... hilarity ensues. All the while you're wondering, who will be the death at the funeral? 

The performances are detailed and fun, particularly that of Broadway's Spamalot Sir Lancelot, Adam Tudyk, and a notable performance by Peter Dinklage.  That, coupled with MacFadyen's straight man sincerity, and you've got a wacky family that you can't help but root for. What Death at a Funeral lacks is a depth of character, and witty banter, but successfully substitutes slap stick and lovable caricatures. Instead of hoping to see who dies, you end up dreading it, even if it turns out to be grumpy Great Uncle Alfie.  Thus, we have a movie that not only demonstrates family dysfunction, but revels in it, celebrates it, and makes the viewer homesick indeed.