The death of the patriarch brings together a large dysfunctional family to mourn his passing -- or pretend to. As funerals go, it doesn't begin well. The morticians deliver the wrong dearly departed's body to his comfy country home.

		'Death at a Funeral' Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, Jane Asher. Director: Frank Oz. Rating: R for language and drug content.

Son Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) lives there with his wife (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under her mother-in-law (Jane Asher), who bears a disconcerting resemblance to Hillary Clinton. Daniel has been writing and rewriting the same novel for years, in the humiliating shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful author, who flies in from New York for the funeral.

Sibling rivalry is set aside, however, when a mysterious mini-American shows up, threatening to reveal their father's deepest secret unless he gets 15,000 pounds. How to stop this blackmail and this shocking news from reaching the gaggle of goofy guests?

Cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan), for instance, has brought along her nervous fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk), who is eager to make a good impression on everyone. But Martha's brother, a chemist, has created a potent hallucinogen that Martha (believing it to be Valium) gives Simon to calm down. By the time the much-delayed funeral gets under way, Simon will be tripping heavily and cavorting naked on the roof.

Other unwelcome mourners include Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a wheelchair-bound grouch with a serious incontinence issue that will seriously test your scatological-humor tolerance.

Macfadyen, so broodingly sexy in the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice" opposite Keira Knightley, is no natural comedian but does well enough and adds a touch of melancholy to this yarn. The other "serious" actor in the cast, little person Peter Dinklage -- so moving in "The Station Agent" -- makes the most of his, shall we say, abbreviated role.

The truly hilarious one of the lot is Alan Tudyk (a Broadway and voice actor also known for "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" and the "Firefly" franchise), a kind of Gene Wilder on acid, especially when sticking his head into a hedge. Tudyk's drug-induced delirium and nudity never fail to amuse.

Director Frank Oz -- perhaps better known as the voice of Miss Piggy, not to mention Yoda -- also knows how to amuse, as his past work ("Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "Bowfinger," "Little Shop of Horrors") attests. He does as much as he can with the black comedy and verbal/visual shtick that Dean Craig's screenplay gives him to work with.

"Death at a Funeral" is not what you'd call effortless British farce, but it generates enough giggles -- and a modicum of solid laughs -- to justify the effort.