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Eulogy

EMAILPRINTLions Gate Films Inc.

Eulogy reviews
34
8.2 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Crime  |  Drama

Written by: Michael Clancy

Directed by: Michael Clancy

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 15, 2004
DVD: February 8, 2005

Running Time: 91 minutes, Color

Origin: USA / UK / Germany

Summary

RATING: R for for language, sexual content and drug use

Starring Hank Azaria, Jesse Bradford, Zooey Deschanel, Glenne Headly, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Kelly Preston, Ray Romano, Rip Torn, and Debra Winger

A wickedly irreverent comedy, Eulogy is ultimately a heartwarming portrait of a houseful of misfits celebrating the strangest and most enduring bond of all: family. (Lions Gate Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

60

Film Threat Clint Morris

It's more about watching an ensemble cast try to one-up one another's performance than anything else – and for what it is, it works.

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60

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Character eccentricities and off-kilter group dynamics play out with a comic vengeance.

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50

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The movie is like a promising date that goes nowhere.

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50

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

In the expanding genre of quirky comedies, first-time writer-director Michael Clancy's messy, fitfully funny Eulogy is among the quirkiest.

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50

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Neither ditzy enough as comedy nor realistic enough as human drama to live a long life.

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40

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The occasional amusing one-liner can't compensate for the broad caricatures and awkwardly structured story.

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38

New York Post Lou Lumenick

That Eulogy has any laughs is largely a testament to the understated Romano -- he and Deschanel are the only ones in the cast who aren't straining to be funny.

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30

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The screenplay is closer in tone to an uneasy mixture of post-"Seinfeld" bile and unfocused Altmanesque satirical misanthropy. Partly because the story's structure is so haphazard, most of the jokes land with a thud.

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30

Variety Todd McCarthy

Nine very good actors are wasted, if not embarrassed, by the thoroughly unconvincing shenanigans perpetrated by first-time writer-director Michael Clancy, while a tenth -- Zooey Deschanel -- somehow manages to float ethereally above it all with her dignity intact.

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30

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Feels like a quirky sitcom -- "Arrested Development" without the development.

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20

Village Voice Joshua Land

If the recurring gag about Grandma's suicide attempts doesn't have you rolling in the aisles, there's always the domineering aunt whose husband sits at the kiddie table.

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16

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The cast itself is weirdly overqualified.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a6:
In a movie that features a grandmother who pulls an Elliott Smith in a moving vehicle, at least the filmmaker has the common sense to cut short a family-sing-along before the clan's inevitable reconciliation totally drowns in bathos. "Eulogy" is about another dysfunctional family that deep down actually loves each other. It at least has more laughs than "The Family Stone". Lesbians are always a lot of fun. The realness of Zooey Deschanel helps offset the comic broadness that plagues an almost unrecognizable Debra Winger and her unlikely family. At least "Eulogy" has a short running time.

Tim G. gave it a10:
Zooey Rules! You super fun power hour girl of 2005 and beyond! oh ! Almost forgot Elf! That 2004...You rocked the house with that one too! And Famke why you no say hi to me in new york? I bumped into you three times in virgin and soho and nomoho and you ignored me like I was dirty cat in crazy alley. Gotta go.Oh, by the way These critics got stick up patootie!

Kevin C. gave it a7:
This is about as dark as comedy gets. And for that - for being different than every other comedy - I give it props. The extremely low reviews really surprised me too; I for one laughed, I was amused. Don't expect the greatest movie ever, but it's certainly not awful.

Bill P gave it an8:
Wickedly funny. Those critics who degraded this film did so because they simply didn't get it.....or were simply afriad to admit they understood it. Debra Winger has rarely been better. Ray Romano is - for the first time - palatable. Quirky? You bet...but so is life, n'est pas?

Bill D gave it a9:
I haven't laughed so hard since I watched my drunken aunt ruin my cousin's wedding.

Filazafer X gave it a7:
This movie is not perfect, but the parts that do work made me laugh out loud. Most movies just don't do that. All of these actors showed some real talent. It could have been excellent, instead it's just good.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Finally a film about a family that connects with each about as well and as funnily as mine does.

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