Movie Review: Jamie Foxx Leads A Crowdpleasing Courtroom Drama In ‘The Burial
Jamie Foxx proudly displays his movie star charm as the bailiff in Funeral , a highly entertaining courtroom drama.
Foxx is one of those actors who has such deep charm and charm that it's almost tempting to think of acting as something natural. This is one of those compliments that is corrupt from the start. surely he or clooney or someone else knows how to be stylish and attractive right? It looks easy, we assume it is, belying the work required for each role.
The same can be said for Burial, which is brilliant, catchy and suspiciously simple. Is there a problem here, or has director/co-writer Maggie Betts just proven her commercial success with her second film? (It's the latter.) Just look at the poster used in its marketing campaign: a little retro, a little trashy, and very self-aware. This movie and everyone involved knows what it is.
In the warped memories of the mid-'90s, these kinds of mid-budget "passionate frontal dramas" seemed to be everywhere, but they went the way of romantic comedies, at least in their big theatrical runs. The Funeral will run in select theaters for a week before arriving in your living room on Prime Video on October 13.
The story of David vs. It's a classic Goliath story pitting Biloxi funeral home owner Tommy Lee Jones as Jeremy O'Keefe against billionaire Raymond Lowen (Bill Kemp). Both were sons of funeral home owners, but O'Keefe remained local while Lowen took over the "death care" business. He made his fortune buying funeral homes in Canada and then the United States, anticipating the "golden age of death" when baby boomers would fill the pile. "The Funeral" is based on a true story written by Jonathan Hare in 1999 in the New Yorker.
Betts focuses on Fox's character Willie E. Su Gary, a successful personal injury attorney who has never lost a case and never plans to. Jeremias' case is tied up in a contract, but his new partner, played by the always charming Mamoudou Atti, convinces him that they'll need a top-notch black lawyer if they want to stand a chance. The trial takes place in a poor, mostly black neighborhood, and Jeremiah's old lawyer, Mike Allred (Alan Ruck, playing a crook), is an avowed racist. "He's doing it," he tells a group of black lawyers.
When Willy finally steps out of his comfort zone and agrees to take on another case (emboldened by the promise of making his ego as famous as Johnnie Cochran's), he faces a learning curve steep and humiliating and a formidable opponent. . By Ivy League-trained attorney Jurnee Smollett, representing the Loewen Group.
Betts is parting ways with Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright, who worked on the project for years and once directed Alexander Payne. Betts made a promising but minor debut in the religious drama The Novitiate with Margaret Qualley and Melissa Leo. "Funeral" is also confident and direct, directly addressing issues of race, privilege and inequality. Sure, it's the story of two old white men fighting over a contract, but Betts and Wright expand its scope, adding sensitivity and nuance. Like many courtroom dramas before it, this case goes beyond these two boys.
Smollett's Mummy is a brilliant cinematic invention that doesn't get bogged down like writers usually do when they add a unique fictional woman to spice up a male-dominated story. Mame is definitely not a character. she's brilliant and capable, but also aware that she can't slip, falter, or lose her cool like her male counterparts do. Sometimes you forget that you don't actually have to root for him to win, which is a drastic approach to a movie with a fairly obvious ending and an easy-to-hate villain.
But this show is from Fox, and it's a lot of fun watching him take sides, question himself, charm all kinds of jurors, and make you sympathize with a guy who's obviously rich regardless. It's easy for an actor isn't it? Ninth.
"The Funeral," an MGM/Amazon Studios release that opens Friday and airs Oct. 13, is rated R for "language" by the Motion Picture Association. Duration: 125 minutes. Three stars out of four.
