When it comes to movies, an ensemble cast tends to mean a lot of laughs are heading your way. “Death at a Funeral” tries to live up to this norm, but only just barely makes it.

The cast is a hodgepodge of actors that are not all comedians, but surprisingly all of them can deliver some funny lines.

Chris Rock leads the crew as the older brother forced to handle all of the crazy hijinks that might occur at a funeral that happens in a much darker Looney Tunes cartoon. It is his most relaxed role to date in terms of delivery. His usual loud-mouth style is dialed down so much that it almost doesn’t feel like Rock is on screen — and it surprisingly worked out all right.

Martin Lawrence plays Rock’s nine-month younger brother, who has some success but has squandered his money. It is delivered in the same sort of way he has for years and it’s still only mildly funny.

Tracy Morgan plays another stupid sort of character that lacks substance, but due to his style of delivery, it gains so much power on the screen you have to stare dumbfounded as the forced writing pours out.

Danny Glover appears for what reason can only be assumed as to deliver the line, “I’m too old for this shit.” His character is semi-entertaining beyond that, but could have been played by any actor able to be crotchety.

Luke Wilson is as annoying as ever, and was about as funny and interesting as his commercial ads for AT&T. Wait, no, he is actually funnier in those.

The women of the film — Loretta Devine, Zoe Saldana, Regina Hall — weren’t really funny, but didn’t take away from the film either.

Peter Dinkladge reprises his midget role, delivering a fair performance overall, but then, he was in the original film.

Oh, wait dear readers; you might not have known this little tidbit. “Death at a Funeral” is a remake.

Now, remakes are happening all the time so this isn’t anything too bad, except that it is a remake of a movie that came out in 2007

Yep, “Death at a Funeral” was remade within three years of it coming out before, only this time it had a black cast. That’s the change that got this green-light.

The comedy continues on and on as it forces its way out of the screen, but falls sort of flat over and over. There isn’t much of a consistent style even. The jokes go from tasteful to shock value — at one point Morgan’s face is covered in diarrhea. It isn’t funny, it is just gross. Some shock value can deliver, but really, who OKs this crap?

Along with the lack of smooth comedic styles, the plot is just obvious and dull.

Each character has a problem or is there to act as a supporting role to the resolution of another character’s problem. This simplicity would be fine if it was developed at all and not simply tossed together to try and support the jokes. The movie is at a funeral, and there is so much that already goes wrong, the addition of a bunch of side stories just made the movie worse.

The only real redeeming quality comes from the performance and story of James Marsden. I had no idea he could be funny — I mean, come on, the guy played Cyclops, the most boring, humor-less character in “X-Men” — but Marsden stole not only scene after scene, but the entire movie. It was simple comedy to be sure, he is playing a character that has been accidentally drugged, but it works. I found myself almost giggling whenever he did one of his crazy drug-induced actions. Not only did his delivery work, but he had the body movements down well enough to have real physical comedy.

So there you have it, an ensemble cast comprised mostly of comedians that are cut so far away from their usual comedy that they aren’t that funny, and an actor who isn’t a comedian being the funniest of the group. Top that off with realizing that “Death at a Funeral” is a remake of a movie from only a couple years ago, and what you’ve got is basically a waste of time.

I want my money back. I can only recommend watching this movie if it is on Comedy Central in the late-night and you are too lazy to turn the channel because you are about to fall asleep.

Gabriel Stoffa is senior in communication studies and political science from Ottumwa.