69%User score 69 percent
Death at a Funeral
2007 · Comedy · Drama
User Score
1.6K votes
Based on an actual lie.
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
Recommendations based on this film
Sheldon Nylander
November 13, 2019
When a Chinese family finds out that the family’s matriarch is dying of lung cancer, complications arise. In Chinese culture, there is a saying that when you get cancer, you die. This actually boils down to the belief that it’s not the cancer that leads to the person’s death, but rather the fear of dying. As such, the family orchestrates an elaborate ruse to get everyone together for a wedding, but in reality the gat…
Read the full review on TMDBManuel São Bento
February 5, 2020
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Lulu Wang shares an emotional part of her personal life by delivering a beautiful, heartfelt story about her grandmother. Even though The Farewell sticks the landing perfectly, not all of the second act’s storylines captivated me, especially the whole wedding narrative. However, Awkwafina offers a fantastic performance, a…
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Peter McGinn
May 12, 2021
This movie is described as a comedy-drama and it is. But I didn’t have many laugh out loud moments. The humor is situational mainly: the writers work up to those moments that make you smile, either because you remember a similar moment in your life, or else because you can’t imagine a similar moment. As happens so often, the story is based on real events. I saw where one review title said it is heartbreaking, but I d…
Read the full review on TMDBbadelf
February 1, 2026
The Farewell (2019) Directed by Lulu Wang Lulu Wang's The Farewell begins with a title card: "Based on an actual lie." The lie in question is both simple and profound: when Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, her family decides not to tell her. Instead, they stage a wedding as an excuse to gather from around the world to say goodbye without her knowing it's goodbye. Billi (Awkwafina), raise…
Read the full review on TMDBReviews are written by the TMDB community, not by The Farewell's publisher.
