Everything about THE DEATH OF THEODORE GRAHAM – the acting, the look, the music – has a sitcom feel to it. If that’s a turn-off, it shouldn’t be in this case. The movie is like a cross between THE OFFICE and DEAD LIKE ME. In other words, this is a really good, really funny sitcom.

The filmmakers kick things off with one of their best gags. The hero is a worker bee named Ted (John Scheffer). His boss comes over and warns him about “bringing personal problems to the workplace.” The problem in this instance being that Death (Colin Matthews) is hanging out at Ted’s desk, carrying a scythe and wearing robes. We then flash back to a scene that explains how Ted came to have Death hovering over him in the first place.

The reason why Ted’s time is up is a pretty funny one: he told God he wanted to die when his girlfriend left him. Seems like an open and shut case, but Ted manages to find some wiggle room. The rest of the story is kind of like a buddy movie, complete with a montage of Ted and Death hanging out and pulling pranks.

Some of the humor is a bit crude and unimaginative; do we really need another iteration of the old flaming-bag-of-shit routine? But when THEODORE GRAHAM is funny, it’s really funny. I’m especially fond of the moment when Ted gets off Scott free; Death slaps a nametag on Ted’s shirt, identifying him as one Scott Free. When a filmmaker comes up with a gem like that, it’s easy to forgive anything else he might have done to irk you.