Good start, but then it gets ruined

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Great, and a unusual mafia/gangster movie. Full of excellent actors, like Christopher Walken, Vicent Gallo, Anabella Sciorra, Isabella Rossellini and the phenomenal Chris Penn, with a monstrous performance which make him win "Best Actor" Venice great prize. Once again this film is about limits and the madness of the human mind, the character Chez (Chris Penn), it an ambiguous, and unbalanced persona, that it explode in fury and anger, crying all the time, in total despair. Once more, Abel Ferrara shows us an unexpected and brutal film climax. A must see, for all Ferrara's fans. If you like this one, i recommend: "Godfather part- 1 and 2".

In depression-era New York, when one of three gangster brothers is killed, his family gather at the wake to ponder their lives together and their revenge, with tragic consequences.Despite its low budget, this manages to be quite an impressive period piece of mafia melodrama, but primarily it is designed as a showcase for the first-rate cast to explore their characters. All acquit themselves well, but all are familiar types from the genre - Walken and Penn as the bereaved brothers and Sciorra (who also co-produced) and Rossellini (who looks just as amazing without makeup) as the long-suffering Mob wives. The best roles are Del Toro's as a sharp-suited cognac-drinking player modelling himself on movie tough-guys and Kelly's scene as a zealous communist agitator. It's an impressive piece (though the photography is ludicrously dark), but the script is too thin and only Ferrara's trademark forays into religious philosophy and an extremely grim finale spark a little energy into the picture. Well made and well acted, but a movie must have a great script to begin with to be a great movie.

This was one DIFFERENT gangster picture, brought to you by Abel Ferarra. I first came to know the rather unique director from his infamous DRILLER KILLER... Which is really 90 minutes of my life I'd like to have back. It's the one DVD I own that I'd love to not own. The one DVD I don't even CONSIDER rewatching. And with good reason. It's a jackass of a film. I can't go into it any more without swearing, and then my review won't get put up. Anyway, years after watching that...movie, I began to wonder how Ferarra is so known among film fans. Nobody likes The Driller Killer, so that can't be it. I looked him up here, and saw that such noted actors as Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel have worked with him!! I was quite surprised and then I came across this one rather cheap. And I love gangster films so maybe I'm being a bit biased here.But this one was rather interesting. These aren't Scorsese style gangsters. They're guys in black suits but their life is much less glamarous. There is much rape and violence and little laughs or friendship. The film focuses on three brothers.. Christopher Walken is legendary in his role as wise but aging family head Ray. Chris Penn plays his rather temperamental (surprise surprise, it being Chris Penn) brother, and Vincent Gallo plays young foolish brother Johnny.The film opens with the recently deceased Johnny lying in his coffin and everyone gathered around crying. How did he get to be there? The film tells this through flashbacks which occur every few minutes throughout the film, and we also see a part from Ray's youth. Very skilfully done! The time switching happens without us noticing, the film flows so well that we're not in the least bit distracted.Christopher Walken is Christopher Walken in a Christopher Walken role, Ray... He's taking the Michael Corleone route here, the wise guy, the darker older brother who makes all the decisions for the family. And he's great at it... Chris Penn is Chris Penn in another Chris Penn role. He's completely insane. A brutal, angry man who loses it over nothing and spends his time on screen shouting and swearing at those around him. Chris Penn is really good at this, but I'd like to see him take on an emotional character... He's just doing Nice Guy Eddie over and over again. Vincent Gallo does the Freddie Corleone of the family well, but he's a bit unbelievable as a gangster and the camera has too many close ups on him. Also present in a supporting role is John Ventimiglia, who plays Artie Bucco from The Sopranos! Just thought I'd mention him, brilliant man. There's Benicio Del Toro as the rival gangster boss. He's pretty creepy but doesn't have a big enough part to do the character justice. Overall, the acting out of the two leads - Walken and Penn - is excellent. Typical, but excellent.Ferarra's been known to be violent and disturbing. Maybe if I'd watched this film a few years back it might have affected me, but it didn't in the least. I am now immune to offense by violence. Some of the film's violent highlights, though, include a stabbing in the heart with a butcher knife, shooting two innocent truck drivers with a shotgun, raping a teenage prostitute (who sold her soul) and an ending pistol massacre.Despite all this, however, it's an excellent if depressing picture, with many deep and dark performances. The violence is not over the top compared to the likes of De Palma or Scorsese, and it is not disturbing, or maybe that's just me.I will definitely be seeing more Ferarra movies!

Though he was the director of that awful thriller, 'Fear City,' Abel Ferrer offers a movie about mobsters that distinguishes it from a decade of far too many mobster-themed movies in that it does not glorify mob life. Though slow in the introduction and sometimes confusing in structure, 'The Funeral' offers good acting and an intelligent plot.Ray (Christopher Walken), Chez (Chris Penn), and Johnny (Vincent Gallo) are brothers and members of the same crime family. I suspect that of the small crime unit, the eldest, Ray, is the leader. The film is centered around the funeral of the youngest, Johnny, who was mysteriously shot to death. And the mobsters, especially his brothers, want revenge. Johnny was an unusual part of such a violent family, too intelligent and often passive. He seemed to be drifting from his destined life of crime, handed down to him from his father to his brothers to him. It is not the role he seeks to fulfill, and it one he often questions, much to the resentment of his brothers, Ray and Chez. Ray is a much different character than Johnny. As the oldest, he was the first to kill a man when his father offered him a gun to shoot someone he didn't even know. Ray also absconds from any responsibility for what he does, consistenly justifying his actions as something that God forces him to do. Jean (Annabella Sciorra), his wife, asks whether he thinks it is suitable to blame God for his actions. He apparently blinds himself to any reality, and basks in the idea that he is only carrying out someone else's plan. That this is what he has to do. Jean even remarks to Johnny's wife, Helen (Gretchen Mol), that Ray and Chez and everyone else involved just keep perpetrating this one-sided, illiterate way of life. Chez is yet another counterweight caught in the middle. He is a very sadistic character and one who soon realizes what damage is being done. With Johnny dead and Ray eager for revenge, it is up to him to determine with the cycle continues. The nature of these characters are particularly interesting in a story that points out the realities of mafia life (for both the mobsters and their wives) as violence begets violence, making for a very intriguing story. Director Abel Ferrer did a good job with this movie. Despite being slow and sometime scattered in focus, it is worth watching.