*½/****
starring Jay Baruchel, Rose Byrne, Graham Greene, Nigel Bennett
written and directed by Chaz Thorne
by Bill Chambers Just Buried (formerly Pushing Up Daisies) stars Jay Baruchel as Oliver Whynacht (get it? "Why not?" Me neither), a neurotic with a really annoying affection (his nose bleeds when he's nervous) who inherits a small-town funeral parlour from his estranged father. He's ready to hand over the reins of the money-hemorrhaging business to a competitor when he falls under the spell of the Lady Macbeth-like mortician, Roberta (Rose Byrne), whereupon the two hatch a scheme to drum up business that rather rapidly transforms them into makeshift serial killers. The casting of Baruchel triggers acid flashbacks to the similarly tactless Fetching Cody, but to its detriment, Just Buried has far more shame, its every Guignol set-piece an exercise in Greedo-fires-first evasiveness. Indeed, until the inevitable unleashing of Roberta's inner castrating bitch (the underlying misogyny of which is tempered by how tiresome Baruchel and his character have become), the movie is so terrified of complicity that it's downright sterile. Blame the Brits for making this kind of morbid farce look easy and Canada's nation of amateurs for dabbling in yet another genre incompatible with our core decency. In all, not the sinfully delicious good time one expects, though it does put the sphinxlike Byrne to good use. PROGRAMME: Canada First!
