Death at a Funeral

Friends and family are convening at the English country estate of husband and wife Edward and Sandra for Edward's funeral. The collective in attendance has the potential to throw the proceedings off the rails. Responsible son Daniel, who has looked after his parents, which is why he and his wife Jane still live at the house, has made all the arrangements and payments for the funeral to await half the money from his successful New York residing novelist brother, Robert. Daniel, who too aspires to be a novelist, and Jane plan to move out of the house after the funeral once he gets Robert's half of money so that they can place a down-payment on a flat in the city; they want Sandra to live with Robert. Daniel quietly resents Robert and his fame and seemingly-easy success, narcissistic Robert who lives the high life, yet seems to be unable to come up with his half of the money. Cousin Martha is bringing her as-of-yet-unannounced fiance Simon and hoping he'll make a good impression on her father Victor (Sandra's brother), as Victor doesn't like him much. To calm Simon down, Martha gives him a Valium from her brother Troy, a pharmacology student--unaware that it might not be a Valium at all; Troy dabbles in his own drug concoctions, and Simon could be ingesting a mix of hallucinogens. Family friend Howard, a germaphobe hypochondriac, is in charge of bringing strong-minded, wheelchair-bound Uncle Alfie to the funeral and looking after him there; Howard is also bringing "uninvited" Justin, who doesn't really know the family except for Martha, with whom he's in love; he is determined to persuade her to leave Simon and run off with him. There's a lot going on already, and then Peter, a little person who is a total stranger to all, arrives and informs Daniel privately that he was Edward's "close friend", and if he doesn't get what he feels he deserves, he is prepared to tell the world exactly how close.