The Cast’s Impeccable Comic Timing Is Among Many Qualities That Make ‘D(e)ad’ a Winner

Thanks to a late, great, and grating comedian, Gilbert Gottfried, Craig Bierko is known to a lot of us as “the guy who passed on ‘Friends.'” During the occasions on which Mr. Bierko appeared as a guest on “Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast,” the erstwhile host made a point of needling the actor not only for turning down the role of Chandler, but for recommending it for his friend, Matthew Perry. No one has a crystal ball, and hindsight can be sobering. Mr. Bierko has continued apace in his career, if not to “Friends”-like ubiquity, invariably bringing his A-game to the job at hand. Movie-goers will likely best know him for his turn as Max Baer Sr. in Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man” (2005) and, maybe, Larry David’s much-maligned “Sour Grapes” (1998). Since then, Mr. Bierko has received a Tony nomination for his turn as Professor Howard Hill in Susan Stroman’s 2000 revival of “The Music Man” and starred as the problematic creator of a reality show in Lifetime’s “UnREAL,” Chet Wilton. Mr. Bierko is the titular character in the supernatural comedy “D(e)ad,” playing a money-grubbing, good-for-nothing, irresponsible boozehound who succumbs to a host of “tumors that are eating him alive.” Daniel Grover can’t even die without fumbling the mortal coil: He’s been consigned to a variation of limbo that has him haunting kith and kin. Although Daniel is capable of “poltergeisting” — you know, turning lights on-and-off and banging around the house — he is primarily experienced as a reflection in a mirror.Craig Bierko and Claudia Lonow in ‘D(e)ad.’ Via Charlatan FilmsTo all, that is, but his youngest daughter, Matilda (Isabella Roland, who also wrote the screenplay). We first catch sight of Daniel and grade-schooler Tillie (Winslow Schwartzman) ambling down a sunny suburban street discussing the finer points of playing soccer, the responsibilities due to one’s friends, and how the promiscuous buying of lotto tickets should not be mentioned to mom. Tillie doesn’t seem to notice or care that Daniel is disheveled, paunchy, and looks to be recovering from a bender.Fast-forward to “Tillie’s Apartment; Twenty Years Later,” where we find our heroine talking on the phone with a customer service representative at a local bank. Tillie is trying to distance herself from even the merest connection to Daniel by requesting that her father’s name be excised from a debit account established when she was a teenager. When asked why, Tillie responds by describing Daniel as a charlatan, a grifter, a thief, and “dead to me.” Her mother, on the other hand, should be kept on the account because, well, “I love my mommy.” The person on the other end of the line promptly hangs up.“D(e)ad” is described by its creators as “an independent autobiographical self-funded feature-length dark comedy,” and it is very much a family affair. Get out the scorecard: Ms. Roland’s mother, Claudia Lonow, directed the picture and stars as Isabel’s on-screen mother, Francesca. Ms. Lonow’s parents, Mark Lonow and JoAnne Astrow, play Francesca’s father and mother, Harris and Renee. Are Ms. Lonow and Jonathan Schmock really, as the internet insists, an item? Whatever the case, Mr. Schmock plays Francesca’s current squeeze, Carl.Vic Michaelis is not part of this dynasty — at least, I don’t think that’s the case — but she plays Tillie’s older sister, Violet. Also on hand are Nick Marini as Violet’s ditsy boyfriend, Brennan Lee Morgan as a funeral home attendant of surprisingly philosophical mien, and comedian Eddie Peppitone as a psychic rabbi who tells all and sundry that, contrary to popular opinion, it is the living that haunt the dead. Rabbi Barry will release the spirit of Daniel from its otherworldly struggles with a method “based on the teachings of Rabbi Nachmann and some Steely Dan songs.”Mr. Peppitone comes on strong as the good rabbi, and his shtick seems like it might upset the movie’s droll tone, but his performance turns out to be of a piece with a cast who, to a person, possesses impeccable comic timing. Even those actors who don’t do much more than walk-on — and here I think, especially, of Zac Oyama as a witless doctor — elicit laughter. As a director, Ms. Lonow doesn’t miss a beat in underscoring the quiddities of the characters. Ms. Roland’s plot is rife with sharp, swift and serious turnarounds. As for Mr. Bierko as the titular dead dad: He’s self-deprecating, clueless, charming, and roguish in all the right measures. “D(e)ad” is a winner.

The Cast’s Impeccable Comic Timing Is Among Many Qualities That Make ‘D(e)ad’ a Winner

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