Family gags done to death. Lowbrow Brit humor isn't the problem here - it's the repetitiveness.

Lest we forget that the Brits once revolutionized the art of lowbrow entertainment, there's “Death at a Funeral,” a terrifically rude black comedy set during that most solemn of gatherings. Contrary to appearances, the modern British palate is not satisfied by bimonthly Jane Austen remakes and “Masterpiece Theater” alone - if this film is any indication, there are moments when only a good poop-on-the-hand joke will do.

Drawing liberally from the slapstick coffers of Benny Hill, director Frank Oz (British by birth, wouldn't you know?) and screenwriter Dean Craig (“Caffeine”) summon a hurricane of dysfunction around Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen, from the 2005 version of “Pride and Prejudice”), a damp, discomfited man overseeing the in-house country funeral of his recently departed father. The director announces his absurdist intentions early when the undertaker delivers the father's casket to the house - containing the wrong corpse, naturally.

From there, the humor only gets more incorrigibly obvious. Daniel - an aspiring writer - is spared no humility when his famed novelist brother (Rupert Graves) alights on the house, triggering much insensitive nit-picking over who will deliver the eulogy. A female cousin arrives with her anxiety-prone live-in boyfriend (brilliant, bug-eyed character actor Alan Tudyk) who accidentally swallows a monster dose of LSD. There's an abusive, violently incontinent old uncle (Peter Vaughan), an unscheduled open-casket viewing and a mysterious, pint-sized stranger (Peter Dinklage from “The Station Agent”) bearing a dark, scandalously tawdry secret.

If, despite the emphasis on narcotics and nudity, “Death at a Funeral” has a strangely classical feel, there's a good reason: Oz and Craig have wryly updated the stock conventions of the venerable Italian comedy (known as the commedia dell'arte) for modern, desensitized audiences. The absurdity of old age? Toilet mishaps. Adultery? Indeed, with a twist. Forbidden love? Yes, but consummated in the midst of an interminable hallucinogenic drug trip.

All of it is funny, the first time. The trouble with “Death at a Funeral” is a matter of mileage - Oz tries to squeeze too much of it from the gags on hand. This is particularly, painfully true of the LSD bit. How many times can a bottle of pills apocryphally labeled “Valium” plausibly fall into the wrong hands? The answer, according to the filmmakers, is limitless. If only the laughs followed suit.

‘Death at a Funeral'

Stars: Matthew MacFadyen, Alan Tudyk, Daisy Donovan, Peter Dinklage

Behind the scenes: Directed by Frank Oz, from a script by Dean Craig

Rating: R for language and drug content

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Grade: C