One of the funniest movies I've seen in a very long time, THE DEATH OF STALIN is smart, laugh-out-loud funny and loaded with talent.
Writer/Director Armando Iannucci created "Veep" for HBO, making the everyday maneuvering of American politics fall over funny, which is not easy to do today.
Iannucci's done the same thing for history here, telling the story of the death of the Russian leader and the explosive battle for power that falls into place with his last breath.
Steve Buscemi (The Big Lebowski, Fargo) is at his absolute best as Nikita Khrushchev. Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show) and Monty Python's Michael Palin are all brilliant, crawling all over each other in their positioning to assume power.
Somehow Ianucci manages to straddle a very fine line between near perfect physical comedy, intelligent wordplay, murderous ambition and historical fact.
He also gave this incredible cast plenty of room to improvise as well.
Don't let the threat of a historical setting scare you off. Characters don't get more desperate or funny than Tambor's clumsy & insecure Malenkov and Palin's too smart for the room Molotov.
The Russian council of ministers push and scrape their way to a new leader in some of the best political satire since Kubrick's " Dr Strangelove" with plenty of 'Veep"'s broader humor and profanity thrown in the mix.
Jason Issacs (Harry Potter) is violently terrific as Field Marshal Shukov and Tom Brooke (Preacher) steals every scene he's in as a doctor who can't make a decision (hilariously so).
If you love political satire and/or smart humor, it doesn't get ANY better than this. Don't let the title scare you, this is one funny flick.
Unlike the Council members, I'll make a decision and give this new comedy classic an A+.
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