SnoopyStyle Kate Collins (Zooey Deschanel) receives news of her grandfather's death from her grandmother Charlotte Collins (Piper Laurie). The various members of the family gather for the funeral in Rhode Island. Her father Daniel Collins (Hank Azaria) was a child star reduced to porn acting. Her uncle Skip (Ray Romano) and Lily (Paget Brewster) have rambunctious twin boys. Her aunt Lucy (Kelly Preston) is a lesbian with girlfriend Judy Arnolds (Famke Janssen). Her angry aunt Alice (Debra Winger) dominates her submissive husband with their three silent kids. Charlotte asks Kate to deliver an eulogy at the funeral. Kate tries to avoid childhood love Ryan Carmichael (Jesse Bradford). After Charlotte's suicide attempt, they meet Alice's old friend nurse Samantha (Glenne Headly).This is written and directed by newcomer Michael Clancy. I love many of the great actors in the cast. Zooey Deschanel is super adorable. The homophobic Alice is probably the most hateful. It's a lot of quirky darkness but it's not always that funny. It rambles a bit but I still love the actors.

MBunge Writer/Director Michael Clancy must be an only child. That's the only way I can explain him making a comedy about family that has even less connection to familial reality than your average lame sitcom from the 1980s. Eulogy makes Different Strokes, My Two Dads and Mr. Belvedere look like hard hitting, gritty portrayals of human domestic conflict.The basic story is that the patriarch of the Collins family (Rip Torn) has passed away and his children and their families are returning home for his funeral. As they all get together, the family's various neuroses and unresolved issues are supposed to spill out all over the screen in a humorous but touching fashion. What actually happens is that a bunch of characters so flat they have less than two dimensions alternately shout, mope, laugh and act like fools. These 1-and-a-half dimensional people don't remind you of the members of your own family. They remind you of the folks you saw in the insane asylum during that phenomenally ill-considered field trip back in 7th grade.There's Daniel Collins (Hank Azaria), a former child star who's more connected to his cell phone than to his own daughter. Danny's daughter Kate (Zooey Deschanel) is supposed to be the normal one in the family, so her viciously passive-aggressive abuse of her childhood boyfriend Ryan (Jesse Bradford) is brushed off as some sort of charming quirk. Danny's sister Judy (Kelly Preston) can be described in exactly two words, "resentful lesbian". His other sister Alice (Debra Winger) is such an intense bitch you're amazed she's still alive, because anyone who spends more than 5 minutes around her would want to gut her with a rusty pair of scissors. Danny's brother Skip (Ray Romano) is the sleazy black sheep of the Collins clan, which fits because Ray Romano looks like he shares more DNA with a lobster than he does with the rest of the cast. Danny's mother (Piper Laurie) is such a void that the script has to give her a couple of "amusing" suicide attempts, otherwise you'd never even notice she's on screen.There's also Skip's degenerate twin boys (Curtis and Keith Garcia), Alice's emotionally annihilated husband (Mark Harelik), Lucy's sweaty-faced lesbian lover (Famke Janssen) and Samantha (Glenne Headly), a nurse who's such a servant of the Almighty Plot Hammer she might as well go through every scene pounding in nails with her forehead.None of these characters seems like a real person for even a moment. None of the allegedly wacky things they do are even vaguely humorous. There's only one actual laugh in the entire movie and that comes from a minor character played by Rene Auberjonois, proving he remembers from his time on the TV show Benson how to sell even the most faltering joke. Zooey Deschanel is darling and the rest of the cast give it their all. Kelly Preston even wrings out some tears, but none of it can make any of this dreck work.I cannot emphasize enough that Eulogy is NOT funny. Watching it is like being trapped in a room with a fat, smelly guy who's trying to tell you a bad joke and keeps screwing up the punch line. And then when the story tries to act like it has some legitimate point to make about family life, it's like the fat, smelly guy tries to feel you up. The only thing you can think or feel while it's going on is how much you want it to stop.If writer/director Clancy set out to make a deliberately boring, unpleasant and aggravating movie as some sort of ironic commentary on how boring, unpleasant and aggravating family can be…I guess he succeeded. It's a Pyrrhic victory at best, though. If he was genuinely trying to make an entertaining film, he failed as thoroughly as a man with a script and a camera can fail.

mlevans When I first discovered Eulogy at a video store three or four years ago, it quickly became one of my favorite newer films. In fact, I would have sworn I had reviewed it here long ago.Michael Clancy, who must have a heck of a day job, showed potential to possibly be another Lasse Hallstrom, Wes Anderson or Jean-Pierre Jeunet in this little gem, then disappeared as quickly as he had come. Other than a highly touted short film in 1996, this has been Clancy's only film. This is a true pity. One aches to see whether or not he could have followed Hallstrom and Anderson's footsteps and made the transition from small indie success to studio success. He certainly seemed to have a deft hand in writing and directing Eulogy.Eulogy is a quirky little dark comedy in the Royal Tenenbaums, Amelie, Garden State, Gilbert Grape family. It combines some very subtle humor with some relatively course slapstick laughs. This, combined with the bizarre but lovable family, makes a satisfying whole.The lovely Zooey Deschanel is the solid glue that holds the frantic elements of the movie together, just as her character, Katie, performs the same duty for the dysfunctional family. She is actually the story's narrator and her attempt to carry out her late grandfather's wishes and pass on the news of his passing – and how this effort pans out – provides the basis of the story and an extra slice of irony.Without giving away the ending, let us just say that things just keep getting more bizarre as the story moves along. Edmund Collins (Rip Torn) has just died – apparently via suicide – and his estranged children Daniel (Hank Azaria), Lucy (Kelly Preston), Skip (Ray Ramano) and Alice (Debra Winger) return home to help their mother, Charlotte (Piper Laurie) tend to the arrangements.The reunion is memorable. Lesbianism, wise-guy kids, some romances, suicide attempts and a very bizarre funeral service are just a few of the events that will keep most viewers laughing. It is a dark comedy and not one for everyone. Generally speaking, most anyone who loved The Royal Tenenbaums, Garden State or Amalie will probably love Eulogy. Anyone who didn't get those films need not bother watching this one either.Laurie is very good as the depressed widow, while Azaria, Ramano, Winger and Preston are hilarious as the maladjusted siblings who have to come to terms with their late father's frequent absences during their childhoods. Jesse Bradford is solid as Katie's unlucky love interest, while Famke Janssen and Glenne Headly are great as Lucy's lesbian life partner and a helpful nurse respectively. Mark Harelik, Matthew Feder, Allisyn Ashley Arm and Jordan Moen are fun as Alice's silently suffering family, while Rene Auberjonois is tremendous in a brief appearance as a local clergyman. Brian Posehn makes a nice addition as the video store clerk. Real-life twins Curtis and Keith Garcia, meanwhile, nearly steal the show as wise-guy twins Ted and Fred.This is an enjoyable dark comedy with a little bit of everything, including a good soundtrack. I hope Clancy gives up his day job again soon and tries another movie. He definitely made this one a keeper.

Mike Boyd Unlike Tom from Santa Monica (the other reviewer), I didn't read any newspaper reviews - I just sat through the first 45 minutes and couldn't take any more.The actor Ray Romano was irritating in the extreme and the storyline totally unbelievable and unfunny. For example, a girl puts on a video which is of her mother in a sex movie, the doorbell rings and she doesn't want to answer it because the visitor is an old boyfriend, so she hides without turning off the video. Guess what happens. Ridiculous.Example no. 2: a father is smoking a joint in his locked bedroom. His daughter knocks on the door and he tries to get rid of the smoke and upsets a flower pot on a bed. He then answers the door with the joint still in his mouth. So funny. Not. Truly an awful film.