Would you say that this is a dark comedy, borderline satire?

A lot of people have commented that this movie fails because it can't decide whether it wants to be a drama or a dark comedy. I tend to agree, but if I were to pick a tone to emphasize, it would definitely be the dark comedic aspects, as those are the scenes in the film that work best.

The most memorable moments in the film are funny ones - such as [SPOILERS] the scene where Mickey (Hoffman) is locked out of the funeral home along with his stepson's corpse. Even the beating death of Shellburn towards the end is comical, especially the discussion right before about whether the "dirty face" meant hard work or bad hygiene. I also found Leon's faux tough-guy posturing with his razor hilarious, and laughed out loud when the old black guy finally had it with Leon and caved in his skull with the prybar.

It's a wretchedly, gut-wrenchingly black comedy. You have to have drama in black comedies, otherwise anyone like Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller could play the lead, phoning it in like they usually do. PSH and John Tuturro are two of the best male actors of recent past, I don't even remember either being in a straight up, generic comedy.