Eulogy

We've seen this kind of thing before--The Dysfunctional Family Get-Together, Black-Comedy Division--but Eulogy has a cast to die for and a bitter poignancy that brings genuine feeling to the sly and frequently mean-spirited wit on display here. Edmund Collins' (Rip Torn) death leaves behind a suicidal widow (Piper Laurie), a handful of neurotic offspring, and their spouses and kids, most of whom have had the Collins craziness rub off on them in the worst possible way. Only college student Kate (the luminous and sharp-edged Zooey Deschanel) has her head on straight, but she's having trouble writing Grandpa's eulogy when no one has a kind word to say about him. Sure, this is one of those thank-God-your-own-family-ain't-this-bad movies, but it's fun to hang out with Hank Azaria's Daniel, a washed-up former child star (and Kate's dad); Famke Janssen's Judy, lesbian lover to Collins' daughter Lucy (Kelly Preston), who delights in tweaking her future sister-in-law Alice's (a deliciously disturbed Debra Winger) homophobia; and Glenne Headly (always a treat) as an old family friend who finds herself putting out emotional fires...and restarting an old flame. Writer/director Michael Clancy makes a promising debut here, adroitly juggling diverse characters that never descend into the cartoonish, while also making us really care about them, psychoses and all. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include four “Meet the Family” extended/deleted scenes (5 min.), three “In the Basement” extended, deleted, and alternate scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a skimpy extras package for an oddball black comedy.] (M. Johanson)