Product: Dim Sum Funeral (2009)
Rating: 2.0
Schmaltzy & unrealistic
While I'm fully willing to give a movie a decent amount of "suspension of disbelief", there's just too much in this movie that made me raise an eyebrow at it. The film has a certain amount of charm, but it is quickly bogged down by weak storytelling & unbelievable plot points.Dim Sum Funeral surrounds a group of siblings who must return home after the death of their mother- someone that they all detested. Their mother had requested a traditional Chinese funeral, which is supposed to take place over several days. As the days pass the siblings discover that there was more to their mother than they'd previously believed & they also find their own personal affairs beginning to surface as well.The idea of the movie was good, I'll give them that. Funeral traditions from different countries have always intrigued me, so I would have thought that I'd like this more. About 20-40 minutes into the movie, I knew that this was just disappointing. From the beginning we're shown how incredibly different all of the siblings are, however it just felt like the writers tried to hard to give each person a tragic and/or unique personality. There's just too much going on from each sibling & it wasn't handled very well. You have a lesbian trying to get herself (or her girlfriend) pregnant, a philandering doctor, an older sibling dealing with the death of her child, as well as a younger sibling who is in for a startling surprise about herself. Better films have dealt with similar situations & managed to juggle all of the multiple plot lines, but in this film they dropped the ball & made for a cluttered plot line.Then there's the unrealistic parts of the film. I apologize if this comes across a little spoilerish, but I found it incredibly unrealistic that all of the siblings dealt with their issues during the 4-5 day period as well as managing to forgive their mother for any past actions. As one person put it- really? Death solves all of the emotional problems? I also found it unbelievable that with all of the emphasis on sibling rivalries, that everyone put their issues aside so quickly. Then there's the ending... I won't elaborate on what happens, but needless to say- both my mother & I audibly groaned at the twist.This is a mostly harmless movie & there are one or two interesting things, but this isn't something I'd really recommend spending money on. *Maybe* a rental, but if you can catch this on TV for free then that's what I'd recommend.