The Burial – Review
126 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Doug Wright and Maggie Betts
Directed by Maggie Betts
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral homeowner Jeremiah O’Keefe enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice in this inspirational, triumphant story.
“Inspired by true events.”
Now that that’s out of the way…
The Burial has got two Oscar winners and a script that has all the ingredients: legal drama, Little Guy versus Big Business, family, legacy, history…
For the most part, director Maggie Betts balances all of these various ingredients pretty well. Her two strong leading men (Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx) help out in making the material audience friendly, and her leading lady (Jurnee Smollett) more than capably holds her place on screen, whether in the conference room or the courtroom.
She’s really, really getting better as her career progresses (not that she was ever “bad” by any stretch of the imagination… not even in Birds of Prey: The Fantabu— you know what: fuck it; that movie wasn’t good. But she wasn’t bad in it).
Beginning as a simply court case about a business deal gone wrong (or nowhere, depending on how you look at it), Foxx’ portrayal of a low-risk-high-reward legally opportunistic lawyer put me in mind of John Travolta in A Civil Action, where an otherwise street-smart lawyer becomes personally invested in what might charitably be called an unwinnable case.
A sub-plot that came in kind of late involving burial insurance being sold to low-income people in order to be exploited later was reminiscent of John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, this time with Hal Dockins (played ably by portrayed by Mamoudou Athie) in the energetic and optimistic young lawyer role.
This is a movie that could easily have gone sideways into melodrama or overwrought social commentary, and it tetters on the brink in the second act, when it can’t quite decide what kind of story it’s telling.
There is a beautiful bit of storytelling by a supporting player (forgive me for not having his name ready), as the story begins to shift from a straight legal fight to an examination of the exploitation of the poor, which in this film is short-hand for “black people.” A soliloquy on slave cemeteries and confederate monuments is so out of place and forced that the fact that it’s all true gets kind of buried (pun not intended) behind it’s clunky narrative positioning and presentation.
Luckily, this weird diversion doesn’t last long, and the story moves back to its strongest suit: Tommy Lee Jones’ grounded Jeremiah “Jerry” O’Keefe keeping his various legal team members from killing one another and straightforwardly acknowledging that he can’t be bought, but only wants what is right and what is fair.
The evolution of Foxx’ Willie E. Gary is entirely precipitated on his relationship with Jerry, who reminds him of why he became a lawyer in the first place. A bit of a nearly over-dramatic bit of screenwriting, but played quite well by Foxx as he discusses it with his wife, Gloria (Amanda Warren).
The outcome is never in doubt, as we’re treated to a verdict with ramifications far beyond one man’s funeral parlor chain.
All in all, The Burial is as solid a piece of legal drama as we’ve seen from Hollywood lately, which isn’t surprising, since it was made by MGM, an Amazon company, lol.
The performances are good-to-great, again, with Tommy Lee Jones keeping the production from flying off the turntable (despite the detour previously discussed.)
And speaking of turntables: musically, I don’t know if there’s a better or more awkward bit than Jones singing along with Tony! Toni! Tone!’s “Feels Good.”
Check out The Burial, which hits Amazon Prime Video on October 13 and stars Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Pamela Reed, Bill Camp, Amanda Warren, and Lance E. Nichols.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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