DVD Review: Undertaking Betty

Undertaking Betty is a film that makes me pine for the old Ealing Studio films. Films full of whimsy and cheerfulness, with characters that could easily have stepped right out of Brigadoon. Characters that you would expect to meet in any rural English town. Passport to Pimlico and the Titfield Thunderbolt come to mind. Does Undertaking Betty come close to these films? Only moderately.

This film was released in England in 2002 (which explains Naomi Watt’s rather thankless role) as “Plots finds a View,” bought by Miramax and promptly put on the shelf for three years until a very limited theatrical release last year in which the great minds at Miramax decided that Undertaking Betty was the better title choice. It hardly mattered, of course. This is a film that was always going to find its audience in the comfort of their own home.

A comedy about romance and death, or rather undertakers, in the small Welsh town of Wrottin-Powys, population 7,500, the film starts us off in 1964 as we see a young couple clearly smitten with each other and the atmosphere only ball-room dancing can provide (stay with me here…). The shy young gentleman is close to making his move when a pudgy kid intercepts him. A hesitation that may have cost him almost forty years.

Our shy young gentleman, Boris Plots (the fascinating casting choice of Alfred Molina), is now 48 and owns his own funeral parlor in town. Still harboring a secret crush on Betty (Brenda Blethyn) and ball-room dancing, he’s still waiting for the perfect chance to make his move…Poor, sweet Betty, meanwhile, has married the pudgy kid, Hugh Rhys-Jones, upon her father’s insistence. While poor Betty has been stuck at home taking care of Hugh’s obnoxious bed-ridden mother, Pudg…err, I mean Hugh (Robert Pugh) has become the pompous town mayor and has been carrying on an affair with his secretary sexpot (Naomi Watts).

When Betty’s mother-in-law croaks, during an episode of Jerry Springer no less (a town favorite it seems), Boris finally gets his chance to alleviate a heavy heart. Naïve Betty returns his feelings but wants no harm to come to Hugh and his reputation so an elaborate plan is concocted. They will fake her death and run off together. Simple, right? Hmm, where’s Alec Guinness when you need him?

In a subplot that holds the most laughs (and provided the most enjoyment for me…I’m reminded of Zemeckis’ Used Cars with competing car salesman), Chris Walken and Lee Evans (of There’s something about Mary) are Frank Featherbed and assistant, competing morticians who think of funerals as “fun-erals”. “The root word of funeral is fun” notes Frank. Frank is a rambunctious type of guy who thinks every funeral needs a theme and also likes to offer discounts of the “buy one funeral get the next one half off” variety. A particularly funny episode involves a widow who makes the mistake of mentioning Star Trek as the favorite show of his recently deceased spouse…The film is rated R for sexual content but don’t let that fool you into thinking this is a nasty, boundary-pushing film. There is talk of sexual acts but it is all fairly harmless stuff, certainly nothing that would dissuade somebody from watching it with, say, their parents. Considering the subject matter deals with death, infidelity and revenge, the film achieves a nice balance of the silly and the morbid but it all unfolds rather gently.This is all a mildly enjoyable featherweight farce that never quite gels together completely for me but provides enough diverting moments to maybe warrant a rental. The peculiar cast is surprisingly strong with an assortment of Oscar winners (Walken), Oscar nominees (Blethyn, Watts) and strong character actors (Molina, Pugh) but one has to wonder what attracted them all?The film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. A tame 5.1 track is provided along with some much appreciated English subtitles. The lone bonus feature is a 7-minute making of featurette - which expectedly provides little insight.

To sum up, if you consider yourself a fan of the old Ealing studio films, or more recently some of Bill Forsyth’s films like Local Hero, then you may enjoy yourself. Chris Walken fans will also want to seek this out just to see his return to singing and dancing in a small role that for me was the highlight of the film. The film is amusing but of the instantly forgettable kind. The performances are all quite charming, the concept worthwhile, the scenery picturesque, but the overall effect borders on the ho-hum.Undertaking Betty is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.