User reviews

Don't let the synopsis of this movie turn you away! It sounds like it would be an utterly boring movie about a funeral home contract. And at its very surface, I guess you could say it is. But this film goes way deeper than that, spinning out stories of friendship, history, race relations, good vs evil and all that.

Even though it has a 2 hour runtime, at no point did I feel it was dragging on, or compelled to check my email or some such like many movies do. There's more than enough substance here to keep your eyes glued through the entire time.

While the supporting cast were all great, Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones were absolutely phenomenal in this one. One of the best performances I've seen to date by both actors. Highly recommend.

Simply watching the first 5 minutes I instantly KNEW I was in for a good movie. Why?

No spoilers here: but the very first 5 minutes reveal to me that this is a movie with a HEART, with terrific, subtle HUMOR and with a story that is out of wack but still very much TRUE to life. (Based on a true story, which is explained during the very end credits of this movie).

The good: watching Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Fox knock it out of the park is such a treat. I mean these 2 actors have proven themselves to be some of the finest American actors and they simply pull it of again. They NAIL IT. They really do!

Any bad? The first hour is the best, that's when we get to see how Tommy Lee Jones (a funeral home director in need of money) and Jamie Fox (a famous lawyer) get to know each other and make plans to sue one of the wealthiest corporations.

The second hour is a bit timid and lacking in spark and punch though, because it consists of mostly court hearings and those hearings arent as good as I hoped for. Not bad, but I have seen better.

Another slightly disappointing thing is that the supporting actors are kinda mediocre. Again they are not bad, but lacking in charisma, which does matter, because they are the main cause that this movie is lacking in true drama.

A charming, lighthearted courthouse story with lots of civil rights issues written into it. Not the greatest, but it left me with a smile on my face. I'll settle for less...

Didn't have any reasons not to watch the new Amazon film. It has Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Fox on the cover. What could go wrong? Nothing. It is not a masterpiece but it is a piece of history you should know that happens inside the courtroom and it is worth two hours from your time.

It all begins with a funeral business owner that is going to lose all his savings and he turns into the least expected lawyer to turn to. It is a story about a small business owner against the greedy corporate, but it is also a story about race differences, bridging between those and also about unexpected friendships, that are forged through this long path of the trial.

TLJ and Fox demonstrate an amazing chemistry and this movie works, a lot, because this special bond. The story is great and written well and has a lot of comic relieves in it, to break any tension or drama and those pauses are not taking over the movie, but blend perfectly into the plot and general tone of it.

The movie is almost light headed, but when a real dramatic pause is needed, it knows its way around thanks to its director - Maggie Betts on her third movie as a director. She manages to collect an impressive team of actors, which contains some veterans like Bill Camp, Pamela Reed (Always Phoebe O'Hara from the " Kindergarten Cop") and even Alan Ruck (that I'll never forget from his appearances in "Spin City").

Betts also wisely uses two bright youngers stars on a great performances as Jurnee Smollett and the young Mahershala Ali look-A-Like: Mamoudou Athie. It's just a fantastic movie that couldn't get higher, due to his leaning of a true story, but in a most dramatic and anticipated way. Good job and waiting for Betts next projects, in order to see if she fulfills the promising career that is expected from her.

The movie hits a lot of notes and I came out of the theater thinking, well, most of America will love this movie and 30%, guess who, will not. So read the reviews carefully for hidden agendas. Jamie Foxx is utterly brilliant. I can't believe we almost lost this guy. Jones is perfectly cast. And the pace, writing, and tone kept me engaged with the true story. It's not a comedy as some listings may imply. It's more like real life where people say and do funny stuff to get through the course of a normal day. Kudos to the director, too, who you could tell had grasp of the story and kept a steady, never overplayed hand.

History is replete with the darkest chapters of human behavior, showcasing how individuals, driven by insatiable greed, can resort to anything to exploit others. While times may have changed, the relentless pursuit of accumulating wealth persists. In the contemporary landscape, these greedy individuals often lurk behind the scenes, orchestrating their actions through the guise of a corporate entity.

The narrative unfolds like a cinematic tale, depicting the struggle of a small businessman against the machinations of a powerful corporation. The film delves into the company's attempt to undermine the entrepreneur, aiming to acquire his business at a fraction of its worth and subsequently turning that investment into substantial millions. The pursuit of wealth becomes so consuming that these corporate leaders lose touch with the very basics of life, such as the cost of their own sustenance.

Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx deliver exceptional performances, bringing sheer class to their roles in this compelling courtroom drama-a definite must-watch.

Acting is top notch and story is a great one. Integrity is worth everything - more than some ahole gigantic business owner is willing to pay. Absolutely worth watching as many stories are told Jamie Fox plays a lawyer with tons of money, but his heart is still in the right place. Tommy lee Jones is excellent as usual - great to see him in this movie.

Ending is a bit predicable but still riveting and makes you believe that good will always win over evil.

I highly recommend this movie because you'll certainly feel really good after watching it. Not all movies need to have violence and sex at the forefront.

You know Jamie Foxx? Yeah, that guy. The clown. The guy from Booty Call, from They Cloned Tyrone .. man, was i ever wrong about someone.

Elderly Tommy Lee Jones is a funeral-home-business owning guy, not poor, but a working man. Due to faults not of his own, he gets into business with Evil Canadian Corporation, who then try to stiff him.

TLJ resorts to hiring successful TV lawyer Jamie Foxx. Now, this guy is a BLACK lawyer. He exploits this by filing his suits in the poorest, most predominantly black circuits, and plays the Victim Of The Man card to win his cases - with, apparently, massive success.

Evil Corportation puts against him equally black lawyeress Jurnee Smollett, up'n' coming Harvard lawyer ready to throw back in his face the race card.

While the film is not race-based, it does not pretend that race isn't a factor when Evil Corporation is willfully targeting the most impoverished areas of the south. There's a few tinges of Erin Brockovitch, and it's dialogue-heavy throughout, but man, you will not believe the quality of a performance that Jamie Foxx puts in for this movie. I would have never in a million years thought this comedy actor had the talent to pull out of his .. coat .. a straight courtroom drama. Don't get me wrong, Foxx plays to his strengths, but he also shows some finesse that, realistically, nobody could have predicted the man had.

NOT as great as Erin Brockovitch, but absolutely worth it.

8/10.

Came across this on Prime amongst oceans of other movies I had never heard of. Some spare time on my hands and a sucker for all things TLJ, why not? I thought.

Based on a true story (aren't they all). A funeral home director, O keefe played by TLJ feels hard done by an investor who wishes to run the business to the ground after a supposedly contract deal.

Jamie fox plays the hot shot lawyer trying to recover the damages. This bit I didn't understand as to why exactly they were taking the investor to court.

The film was dull, I mean really dull. With implausibility and cliches circling like a poltergeist haunting nothing was capturing my attention. Everything was predictable, zero surprises. The opposition lawyer, Mame, supposedly a super-lawyer who had never lost a case was a complete amateur.

The production standard is quite good and tongue in cheek performance by Jamie Fox gives a few chuckles but that's about it.

One to avoid. In fact movie standards have crashed in the last 20 years and this film bears all the hallmarks.

I felt like I was getting bashed Throughout the whole film. The message coming from it was overwhelming and constant right the way through.

I love Tommy LJ and I thought the other main actors were great. I only knew TLJ before this movie but yeah the cast were great.

The story was great - but to be honest the subliminal beating over my head at every opportunity was too much.

Yes I gave it a 6. Maybe I should have given it a 4 or less. But the actors I loved as did the storyline. The constant guilt trip I did not.

We can't change history and just like the "white attorney" people cannot be held responsible for the actions of others hundreds of years ago.

For thousands of years all over the world there have been slave owners and slaves.

Dig deep over thousands of years and you will find slaves and slave owners all over Africa / thousands of years before anyone ever heard of Europe or the USA - who built the pyramids? Slaves! Who sold the slaves? Who bought the slaves? The people of sub saharan and Saharan Africa. Internal African slave owners was how the tribe chiefs made their money.

The baseline story about the lawsuit would have been fascinating - pointing out the systemic racism regarding higher prices in poor neighborhoods and lack of compensation for deals with black organizations, and big companies stalling and ignoring contract agreements with small companies would have provided a great movie, the fact that no one could be bothered to understand Mississippi enough to accurately describe it's geography illustrates to me the continued biases that the entire state of MS is some backwoods place not deserving of accurate portrayal. Reminded me of the time after Hurricane Katrina when a news anchor referred to MS as "the land mass between Mobile and New Orleans!" Shame on the folks who wrote and produced this. Pay attention when you depict a place. Hinds County is not a "backwoods" county. It is home to Jackson - the state capital. And you go "up" to Jackson from Biloxi, not "down". Yes - the devil is in the details - and these are just a few of the details that were wrong and wasted the talent who acted in this production.

Very well acted. Well written. Well directed. The story was stressful and I definitely did predict a few scenarios but that's mostly cause it's based on a true story so it's easier to predict a real scenario. It has some good love and heart. It's definitely entertaining for a drama. Very stressful and if it's a true story it's hard to complain about the outcome since it's what actually happens. This is a true story that's well told. Well captured and has a strong impact. Emotions flow through the movie. That's hard to get. This is a very good movie and I'd recommend it to anyone that actually likes heart felt court room dramas. I would have gave it a 7 but i picked 8 to make up for the racist people who didn't like the outcome.

The Burial is based on the true story of an embattled funeral-home underdog taking on Big "Death Care". So no-one can honestly complain that they were disappointed by a predictable outcome.

Unfortunately, the story of Willie Gary's impassioned prosecution of the unscrupulous and discriminatory practices of the Loewen Group, (owned by a suitably reptilian Bill Camp), *was* disappointing. Where it should have been clarion and incisive, instead it felt disjointed and superficial.

With surer-handed screenwriting and less indulgent direction, the Burial might have been as inspirational and moving as Dark Water, but the script was never really convincing in the courtroom, and was either too frivolous or awkwardly misty-eyed out of it. It didn't help that - the "Black American Dream" aside - Gary's own ostentation was so antithetically conspicuous. That his wealth got more screentime than the very victims the Loewen group exploited struck me as counterproductive at best, and cynical at worst.

That said, Jamie Foxx and Tommy-lee Jones were both excellent, with a solid supporting cast, (especially Mamoudou Athie), and the actual story was still compelling, even if I felt it could have been better told.

I just hope Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones star in more films together. Foxx is such a chameleon that he can star in any type of role whether it be in a comedy (TV's.1991-1994 In Loving Color, and 2011 Horrible Bosses) a biography/drama (2004 Ray Academy award winner Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role), and even in a western (2012 Jango Unchained) just to name a few of his most memorable roles.

Corporate lawsuit films have been done before (such as with Julia Roberts in 2000 Erin Brockovich, and in 2019 Dark Waters) but what sets this film apart is the human connection between the flashy African American ambulance chaser lawyer Willie Gary (Jamie Foxx) and his Funeral owner client Jeremiah O'Keefe, (Tommy Lee Jones). In many past films Tommy Lee Jones previous characters have always been smart, savvy and tough action type heroes, but in this film he plays the funeral owner Jeremiah O'Keefe, who is an aging dinosaur with strong moral convictions who inherits his fathers funeral home business only to fall victim to not one, but to two con men whose greed had no boundaries.

This is no doubt an inspirational film with the little guy hiring a questionable choice for a corporate lawyer for a contract lawsuit taking on the massive corporation and a team of high profile lawyers. One of the most memorable scenes is between Willie Gary and Jeremiah O'Keefe while up in the air in Willie's private plane Jeremiah asks Willie why he became a lawyer, and Willie tells his heart wrenching story of what single personal family incident motivated him to become a lawyer with a must win attitude.

Ms. Shullivan and I were so pleased after watching the film that we both agreed we have to purchase the film for our Top Ten film library. No doubt it is worthy of a perfect 10 out of 10 IMDb rating and I would be disappointed if it does not receive several Oscar nominations.

This film isn't terrible, but it falls somewhere between riveting and parody.

Even with a film based on a "true story", there's always literary license taken with the real truth, and that exists here too.

The biggest issue with the film is that it can't quite decide what it wants to be, thus the spilt personality and narrative issues.

Tommy Lee Jones has been in some great movies, and some clunkers but can deliver, even in a film with problems. Unfortunately his performance is very one note and could have been played by almost anyone based on his it was written.

Jaimie Foxx...his performance feels like so many others he's brought to the screen, and the hammy opening scene is cringeworthy for several reasons, including his choices. He's been so much better in other films, but here he leans in to the overly bombastic character he plays and loses us. It may not be fair to compare an actor's work to a more gifted actor, but consider what this role might have looked like if Denzel Washington had played it.

Initially Willie Gary is seen as a buffoon, which makes his evolution into a humbled (slightly) and sympathetic character hard to swallow. And the real life Willie Gary is no Angel apparently.

Then we're taken into troubled waters with the racist behavior of characters big and small, which then leads to how the villain is brought down, not by clear violations of law, but with a murky and skimmed over blatant disregard for people of color in distress. At that point the movie plays with "the big message" in the script which is so far removed from everything else we've seen in the movie that the plot breaks down. The egregious behavior of the villain and his heartless corporation is impossible to ignore and not be appalled by. But the hurried montage of victims telling pieces of their story, and the quick history lesson on the abuse of black people's last rites, graveyards and damaged legacies feels like it belongs in another movie that just focuses on that, and does it better justice.

Casting: Lee performs in a soft spoken unemotional style that didn't fit his character, Foxx feels miscast, as does Jurnee Smollett and the actor saddled with playing the greasy corporate villain. Foxx swims between overacting and melodrama, Smollett can't quite rise to the level of vicious litigator (The Python?) leaving her scenes watered down, and damaged because we already know she's going to lose no matter what. Her begrudging respect for Willie at the end didn't feel true either. And the actor playing the villain? The script wants to deliver a moment like Jack Nicholson's in A Few Good Men and doesn't even come close to pulling it off, creating a huge anticlimactic comeuppance. Instead of a thundering "You can't handle the truth! You're D$&@ right I DID!!" We get a sleazy, almost whispered "No" which disgusts us, but isn't the legal nail in the coffin we want it to be. And pushes the emotional fuel for a verdict we expect, but no clear legal reasoning behind it. Imagine John Malkovich or Gary Oldman playing the villain, and sigh when you recognize how much it would have improved those court scenes.

So, why a "6" and not a "2" or a "3"? Because there are still some well performed roles, pieces of a good story, and a message, that while mishandled, needs see in the light of day.

This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. The casting is great. The screenplay is great. Jamie Foxx & Tommy Lee & Journee really are exceptional in this movie. It also has a favorite of mine, Amanda Warren. You may remember her from the East New York show on cbs that was inexplicably canceled. This is what the movie is based on: Under a 1995 deal between Canada-based Loewen and the nation's largest association of African American churches, Johnson's church and its pastor also share a 6 percent commission for recruiting him to sell Loewen products. An additional 5 percent goes to the 8.5 million-member National Baptist Convention USA for its Christian Education Fund. And every congregant Johnson converts into a customer gets a 10 percent discount off Loewen's regular prices.

The Burial is a 2023 American courtroom drama film directed by Maggie Betts and starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. The film is loosely based on the true story of Willie E. Gary, a flamboyant civil rights lawyer who took on a multi-billion dollar corporation in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Foxx plays Gary, a successful lawyer who is known for his flashy style and his big personality. Jones plays Jeremiah O'Keefe, a mild-mannered funeral home director who is suing a corporation after they reneged on a promise to pay him a commission on the sale of his business.

The film follows Gary as he builds a case against the corporation, which is represented by a high-powered legal team. Gary uses his wit and his charm to win over the jury and to expose the corporation's wrongdoing.

The Burial is a well-made and entertaining film. Foxx is excellent in the lead role, and he is ably supported by Jones and a strong supporting cast. The film's script is sharp and funny, and the courtroom scenes are suspenseful and engaging.

The Burial is more than just a courtroom drama, however. It is also a film about friendship, loyalty, and justice.

I would highly recommend The Burial to anyone who enjoys a well-made and entertaining film. It is a film that will stay with you long after you have seen it.

Jerry (Tommy Lee Jones) runs a number of funeral homes in South Mississippi, but is in debt and agrees to sell a number of them to the giant Loewen funeral company, headed by sneering filthy rich CEO Bill Camp. When Loewen fails to fulfill its end of the bargain, Jerry sues and hires exuberant lawyer Jamie Foxx.

Fun Hollywood razzamatazz featuring an apparently heavily dramatised and rather familiar true story of the little man taking on the evil giant that is Corporate America. It pretty much goes in the direction that you think it will, pressing home a few points on racist America along the way. What makes this watchable though is the cast with Foxx on fire shouting and gesticulating at the jury through a ton of gold jewellery, Lee Jones considerably less angry, fast talking and cynical than his usual role and Camp, a nice baddy doing his own little bit of 'Colonel Nathan Jessop' towards the end of the trial. It's quite good fun with jolly turns by the 2 leads although I'll be honest, whilst the Loewen Company are lousy through and through, not sure I understand what law they've broken here - anyway, that's neither here nor there.

Being a Brit, not sure if I just don't "get" this movie or if there are cultural differences that just dont translate across the pond.

This movie is about the little man taking on the big awful corporation, and could have been a great story to tell if done properly, similar to the movie "Percy" with Christopher Walken, but it misses the mark.

Race is a major theme throughout this movie and I just don't get why. It doesn't add anything to the movie, story is not based on anything racial, and seems like a lazy writing attempt to tackle a sensitive subject.

This is also supposed to be a drama/thriller, but is too whimsical to successfully deliver up that genre, not really a comedy either, just missing the mark.

In short; this movie is bit of a mess for my liking. Poorly written, lost storytelling where it just fizzles out. Avoid it, not worth your time.