Just Buried, an official selection of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, is a pedestrian comedy that will probably offend many viewers with its tasteless and sick brand of humor.

The movie follows Oliver Whynacht (Jay Baruchel), who inherits a funeral parlor from his estranged father Rollie (Jeremy Akerman). This establishment is located in a small town where nobody has died since the retirement home adjacent to it burned down five years ago. Rollie left his business to Oliver because he was ashamed of his son for being a delivery boy at a grocery store. He felt this would finally force Oliver to make something of himself.

Oliver soon discovers the funeral home is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Henry (Graham Greene), the accountant, informs him that Rollie was adamant his son was the right person to make the funeral home profitable again, despite the fact Oliver has no experience with the funeral business and is also petrified at the thought of death and dying.

Later that evening Oliver stops to eat at a diner with Roberta (Rose Byrne), the parlor’s embalmer. After talking for several hours, he realizes they are both too intoxicated to risk driving home. Roberta tells Oliver to take a dirt road, one that leads directly into town and is seldom traveled on at night. Meanwhile, as part of his nightly walking routine, Armin (Slavko Negulic) is hiking down the same road in total darkness. Oliver, too drunk to see Armin walking toward him in time to hit his breaks, crashes head-on into the man. Roberta then helps Oliver carry Armin’s dead body off the road. Roberta makes it look like Armin broke his neck after tumbling down an embankment at night.

Armin’s funeral, the first one held in the town for many years, gives Oliver and Roberta an idea about how to keep the funeral home in full operation. They decide to murder more innocent people and try to make each killing look like an accident.  Along the way, they must deal with the problem of silencing people who know what they’re doing or have threatened to come forward with information about what really happened to Armin.

Baruchel, badly miscast as Oliver, overacts throughout the film and lacks chemistry with Byrne. It’s also disappointing that Greene’s considerable acting talent is wasted here. His character crops up sporadically to make a few self-deprecating remarks only to disappear toward the end of the film. However, Byrne, best known for her portrayal of Dorme in Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones, is delightful to watch as the incredibly quirky and homicidal Roberta.

You may be wondering where the inspiration for this movie came from. When Chaz Thorne’s best friend’s girlfriend gave him an idea for a comedy about someone who just inherited a funeral parlor and resorted to murder to keep it open, the filmmaker set out to write and eventually direct what would become  Just Buried. Unfortunately, Thorne’s directorial debut suffers from heavy-handed direction, bad casting, and poor performances -- with Byrne being the exception.

(Released in Canada by Seville Pictures; not by MPAA)