The Burial Parent Guide

After a handshake deal goes bad, Mississippi funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) sues the Loewen Group, a Manitoba-based conglomerate expanding in the world of bereavement services. Desperate to save his family business, O’Keefe hires charismatic attorney Willie Gary (Jamie Foxx) to head his legal team. The two unlikely friends bond over their shared values while the case expands from the rarefied world of contract law into larger issues of corporate greed and racial injustice.

Courtroom dramas must walk a fine line. They can easily be mind-numbingly boring, or so unrealistically dramatic that they become frustrating to watch. Writer/director Maggie Betts manages to straddle that line expertly, creating a realistic but engrossing film helmed by two stellar performances. Dare I say this is the most exciting movie ever made about contract law? That’s a low bar, but someone has to clear it…

Foxx and Jones are both electric to watch. Neither take their characters too far into scene-chewing madness, but both deliver layered, expert performances that keep the audience captivated from the first frame. The surrounding cast are stellar as well, but there’s no denying who the two leads are. I can’t tell you how closely their performances hew to the real people involved in the 1995 O’Keefe v. Loewen case, but they provide characters who feel authentic. I would not be surprised to see this film crop up in some awards conversations in the coming months, especially in the acting categories.

I found this film to be a bit too long and it could easily have gone through another round of editing to tighten it up. However, that is a small critique for an otherwise great film. The story, though slow in some spots, manages to touch on some important issues while delving deeply into two complex characters. The film never tips into melodrama, avoiding black and white, good vs evil dichotomies that could so easily have overwhelmed it. The messages around corporate greed, family legacy, and perseverance are all clear but not overdone.

Parents can take note that the only significant negative content issue is profanity, with the script featuring 12 F-bombs and over 30 other expletives. For some families, the positive messages as well as the importance of this case and its wide-reaching implications in the American legal system may outweigh the profanity. Whether or not this movie is a fit for your family, is for you to judge.