A Texas Funeral
A Texas Funeral
| 01 January 1999 (USA)
A Texas Funeral Trailers

It's 1968 and the Whit clan are reuniting for the burial of Grandpa Sparta (Martin Sheen). But Sparta still has some secrets to reveal to his family and wisdom to impart to his grandson, in this whimsical comedy from the writer of The Bourne Identity.

Reviews
GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Razor Ramon I'm on the fence with this movie. I picked this up in a $5 4-movie pack; so I wasn't expecting much, and for that I can't fault it. The film paints a nice image of 1960s (err...1950s) Texas, which both serves as a great setting and the film's main problem. The gritty farm where most of the film takes place in the midst of nighttime gives off the sense of death (the Funeral the title is referencing), yet there are many instances of this deathly tone being directly contradicted. Without giving anything away, this film has numerous over-the-top scenarios (exotic animals and weird fetishes) that it overuses to the point of intentional farce, yet it takes them extremely seriously. You wonder if it is purposely humorous for most of the way through as there are so many laughs to be had but no indication of comedic recognition. The final thing is the cast. All of them do their jobs, with Martin Sheen obviously having the best bits; the only problem is that they all represent a polarized 50s stereotype (yes, 50s. Even though its supposedly set in the late 60s it REALLY feels the decade before). There's no characters to relate with, except for the little boy, played by Quinton Jones. Even he though seems a little off for most of the film, with unnecessary quirks of every character rampant throughout. It's not a terrible film and you'll get some entertainment out of it, but probably not how the filmmakers intended. It certainly isn't worth any money by itself.
Kiri-8 I am a Texan. I loved this movie. I will buy it for home viewing. The story was an excellent "slice-of-life tale and genuinely made me homesick. While I enjoyed the performances of all the actors I was particularly drawn to Martin Sheen ( as I always am ) and I couldn't help but watch Christopher Noth in amazement.His range of emotions is amazing. We become attached to the truly honest performers...the ones who make us believe. He is one of those. I liked the relaxed style of this Texas movie and the funny moments. I'll never look at a camel in quite the same way again. Or my husband's ears.
kencomer "A Texas Funeral" could have been better, but there wasn't anything resoundingly bad about it. It was a quirkily comical view of a family reunion brought about by the death of the family's atriarch, and the characters had an authentic 1960's Texas flavor to them.Everyone except grandma had at least one moment of personal revelation, and everyone got something good out of the deal. It was a pretty "feel good" kind of movie, and it was sufficiently funny to compensate for its lack of depth.If you see rent this on video as an excuse to eat hot buttered popcorn, you won't be disappointed. If you are expecting great cinema, you will be.
rbreen An entertaining but overwrought exercise in American Baroque, the best way to describe this film is to say that it begins in David Lynch territory, rambles through Tennessee Williams country, and was last seen heading dangerously close to Waltons Mountain. Set in Texas in the late 1960s, the plot - dark secrets emerge when a family gathers for a family funeral - is hardly original, and while the Texan self-image comes in for some welcome satire, the cosy self-satisfied way in which the whole thing is tied up at the end would have a serious dramatist like Tennessee Williams spinning in his grave. Martin Sheen is much too decent to play the wicked old patriarch, and while any film that includes Joanne Whalley, ear-sucking, and camels can't be entirely bad, this is not a good advertisement for any of them.