Funeral Kings

I felt the story line was weak so I won't blame the young actors for a boring film with just way too much cussing from the mouths of a bunch of 14 year old boys trying to find their way through a weeks worth of school and some after school antics which include a video store break-in, drinking booze and shooting beer cans....and a stray dog. Sometimes a film provides a few great scenes that make an otherwise so so film memorable. In this case don't expect any wow moments just a bunch of kids trying to get through their lines in a dull film with little imagination. I would not recommend this film to anyone but I would suggest trying a rerun of either the classic 1986 film Stand By Me or the 1999 Jake Gyllenhaal release of October Sky if you want a good film with young boys and their dramatic stories and dreams.

I watched this based on the premise of it being a comedy about altar boys serving at funerals. It is not funny, and only the opening scene with "Ave Maria" playing in a church has anything to do with the title. After that, it becomes a "Stand by Me" wannabe with neither Stephen King's superb coming of age story nor Rob Reiner's perfect direction. The main thirteen and fourteen year olds are fine young actors, but the script gives them little to do but curse constantly, smoke cigarettes and crash a party with high school age kids. Along the way they break into a video store and damage a car and wander aimlessly from scene to scene with no point at any time. I was bored to tears by Funeral Kings, and, thankfully, it is only eighty five minutes. Avoid it and rent Stand By Me instead.

I rarely write film reviews but this one really deserved a positive review. I love originality and this film is truly original. It has a fresh feel and it is well written. I had no idea that some of the actors weren't professional. Perhaps that is what gives this film its edge. I don't think I can do it much more justice than reviewer "larry-411" did. He really nailed it. All I can say is watch it, you wont regret it. I must add more lines according to IMDb requirements, so let me say this: Always look at the last reviews of a film. IMDb often hides bad reviews at the end. I think they are getting kickbacks to put good studio written reviews up front to get people to watch their films. I have seen this more times than not. So don't be fooled.