Happy Funeral

D

Directed by Barbara Wong

Barbara Wong's sequel to the inexplicably successful "Truth or Dare - 6th Floor Rear Flat", which followed the highs and the lows of a group of young adults sharing a dilapidated flat in Hong Kong, is a pretty terrible follow up to a film that probably should have never been given a sequel in the first place.

As "Happy Funeral" opens, we find a new batch of youths living in the 6th floor rear flat. Like their predecessors, only a few of them have jobs, and most of their time seems to be dedicated to partying, flirting with one another and hatching half baked business plans. After attending the dour funeral of one of the housemate's boyfriend's grandmother, the gang decides that what the world really needs is a service that will celebrate rather than mourn the lives of those who have passed. Thus, the idea for a new, highly profitable business is born-- the "Funeral Party". Suffice it to say, it's a terrible idea.

I love movies and I get personally offended when people claim that watching them is a waste of time, time that could be, according to them, better spent doing something more productive. This haughty belief is usually harbored by grouches who presuppose that doing something enjoyable means it's necessarily frivolous and that we all have productive things we could be doing at all times of the day which certainly isn't the case for me. In the case of "Happy Funeral", however, it truly was a total waste of my time. And my time is really not that valuable, either. Director Barbara Wong seems to have had no game plan whatsoever when setting out to make this film and it certainly shows. It's messy, poorly acted, poorly scripted (if a script was provided at all, which seems doubtful) and full of annoying characters who are impossible to sympathize or connect with. Wong's film doesn't even hint at a serious plot until it's 3/4ths of the way through and by that time I was so thoroughly annoyed with "Happy Funeral", I just wanted it to end.

I guess there's a kernel of intelligent social commentary in here somewhere about the slacker attitude of Generation Y and its chronic refusal to grow up but it gets lost in "Happy Funerals" in your face, high pitched brand of comedy.