This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Did you know a court room drama starring the wonderful Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones came out in 2023? No? Then you wouldn’t be alone. Somehow buried by Amazon MGM Studios, The Burial feels like the sort of movie that would become an instant tv classic that you’d see on TNT a few times a year akin to A Few Good Men. Had it been made in the 90’s, I could absolutely see it happening.
As it stands, The Burial, while lacking in publicity, delivers a strong story that was based on a true lawsuit, strong performances and has just enough 90’s nostalgia to really connect. The film follows Jeremiah O’Keefe, a funeral home director in South Mississippi who falls on hard times and makes an agreement with funeral home giant The Loewen Group. But, when it becomes apparent the Loewen group doesn’t intend to fulfill their part of the deal, O’Keefe hires prominent injury lawyer Willie Gary to sue the funeral giant.
What impressed me most about the film was how excellent the two lead performances were. Foxx kills as Willie Gary, an eccentric Florida lawyer, while Tommy Lee Jones delivers a much more nuanced performance as the elderly O’Keefe. These two characters could not be more different, but when they come together there’s a chemistry amongst the two actors and characters that just work.
The film felt well-paced, but where I had issues were in the performances of the rest of the supporting cast. Aside from Jurnee Smollett, who played defense attorney Mame Downes, the cast underwhelmed me. I wasn’t impressed with much of the supporting cast, most of their performances were either very stiff or totally overblown to the point of caricature. The Burial also leaned heavily into the campiness of it’s story. In my opinion, this hurt the film more than it helped.
Final Thoughts
If you like courtroom dramas, The Burial is up there amongst the better films of the past few years in that genre. It oozes nostalgia from the 90’s and rides on the performances of Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. While it’s not the greatest film ever made, The Burial will surely give you a good time whenever you watch it.