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Excellent but underrated film

Admirable film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A black comedy about two 19th century grave robbers (Simong Pegg and Andy Serkis) who find a lucrative business providing cadavers for an Edinburgh medical school.There have been a few films about Burke and Hare, or inspired by the two ghouls. This, sadly, is not among the very best. With John Landis directing, you would expect more but I think he never really hits the mark. (I am glad to see him come back from his long hiatus, though.)Simon Pegg is toned down from the roles we are used to for him, and Andy Serkis never really comes into his own. Isla Fisher stands out somewhat, but only somewhat and nothing more. And then we have Tim Curry, who can make just about any film better just by showing up... and even he fails to excite me here.

I wonder who thought a comedy about Britain's most famous graverobbers would be a good idea? A brief look at the credits of the guys who did the screenplay soon reveals that they're the ones behind ST TRINIAN'S 2: THE LEGEND OF FRITTON'S GOLD. That alone speaks volumes.Of course, the story is doomed to failure from the very beginning, because comedy is so hard to get right. The jokes are either funny or they're not. It goes without saying that I didn't laugh once during the course of this film. The gurning, mugging, getting-crap-poured-over-them gags aren't an example of getting it right. In fact, BURKE & HARE gets it very wrong indeed, which is kind of sad because back in the day John Landis was a great director. Now he's mired in the dreck.Simon Pegg plays Simon Pegg, with the addition of that Scottish accent he used in STAR TREK. Andy Serkis is Andy Serkis with a similar-sounding accent. Both seem to be in it for the money. Isla Fisher – well, don't get me started on Isla Fisher, and her extensive sub-plot involving some rubbish about the first all-female production of Macbeth. Huh? I thought this was meant to be a film about graverobbing, yet half of it's about bloody Macbeth, and the other half just changes history when it feels like it.Lots of effort was made in recreating 19th century Edinburgh, and the supporting cast is, frankly, astonishing. Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee, David Schofield, Ronnie Corbett, Hugh Bonneville, Jenny Agutter, hell, even Stephen Merchant, Michael Winner and Paul Whitehouse. And what do all these fine people have in common? They're singularly wasted, either relegated to boring serious roles or blink-and-you'll-miss-em cameos. No, I won't waste any more time on a film I'd rather forget even exists – especially when you have a wealth of minor classics on the same subject (THE BODY SNATCHER, THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS, BURKE AND HARE…even DR JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE!).

When I first heard they were making a film about the notorious grave robbers and murderers, Burke and Hare, I was quite interested. When I latterly heard it was to be a comedy, I was not only quite taken aback, but also quite annoyed! If you know their story you'll know they were quite brutal and evil men who quite deserved their ultimate fate. To trivialise it seems quite wrong to me; however, I decided to face my demons and give it a viewing. Now, I always try to watch a film with an open mind and look for the good ahead of the (usually quite obvious) bad. With this in mind, I put aside my preconceptions and hit play on my Sky+ box. I'll give you my thoughts after this brief summary (bet you knew I was gonna do that).In the early nineteenth century Edinburgh was the place to be to learn about human anatomy. Two colleges competed for students and, consequently, dead bodies for them to study. Dr Robert Knox ran the Barclay School of Surgery and Dr Monro ran the Royal College of Surgeons. Munro was also a politician and used his position to ensure his school had a good supply of bodies from public executions and the like. This left Knox needing a supplier and this came in the form of two Irish immigrants, William Burke and William Hare. They stumbled into the business when one of Hare's lodgers dies and they discover that Dr Knox would pay them good money for the corpse. They begin with grave robbing but find that a bit too much like hard work. Cutting out the middle man (as it were) they progress to murdering their victims. After a while the missing people are, well, missed and the local Militia begin to investigate… Is this the end for Burke and Hare? Well, if you know the story then you'll know the answer, but I'm not going to say here or the Spoiler Police militia will have me strung up by dawn.Quite a well made film that doesn't tax the grey cells too much, but I wouldn't expect anything less from John Landis. As far as the acting goes, everyone was good without any stand-out performances. Simon Pegg as William Burke and Andy Serkis as William Hare both did a decent job. Tom Wilkinson was quite proficient as Doctor Robert Knox, as was Tim Curry as Doctor Monro. Honourable mentions go to; Jessica Hynes as Lucky, Ronnie Corbett as Captain Tam McLintoch and Isla Fisher as Ginny Hawkins. Also there are nice cameo's from Christopher Lee as Old Joseph, Paul Whitehouse as gentleman Drunk, Michael Winner as Gentleman Passenger, Stephen Merchant as Hollyrood Footman and Jenny Agutter as Lucy.The film begins with the statement; "This is a true story, apart from the parts that are not". Unfortunately, the filmmakers have kept up with the tradition of making the vast majority of the story up from "the parts that are not". This is not the only problem for me, I found that in trying to make the main protagonists likable they totally trivialised the positively evil acts they were committing, which, I'm sure many will agree, isn't right. There's a sub-plot about Burke using his money to finance a theatrical production that is used for some justification of his part in the crimes they were committing, but it didn't really work (for me at least). It's not all bad though, I did like some of the less obvious humour on show, the nod to Greyfriars Bobby was quite a welcome distraction but over all I'm afraid I didn't find it charming, funny, or ever "Outrageously Funny" as I've seen on a poster or two. Over all, yes, there are a few laughs on the way, but it soon falls flat on its arse and doesn't really get up again… Not recommended.My Score: 3.7/10.IMDb Score: 6.1/10 (based on 4,467 votes at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36/100 (based on 45 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

For a comedy set in the 19th century, then "Burke and Hare" did work out quite well. Especially because the whole atmosphere throughout the movie was really awesome. There was so much attention to detail in the sets and the decorations, so you genuinely believed that you were actually right there in the 19th century Edinburgh.The story told in the movie is quite interesting, and you get yourself into it right away. So that worked out quite well. And you are anxious to see what happens next to the two 'entreprenours' and what mishaps lurk around the corner. The whole light-hearted take on the grave robbing business was a much welcomed blow of fresh air. It was grim without being too serious, so thumbs up for that.As for the cast in the movie, just one thing to say really; wow! There were so many really good actors/actresses in the movie. I was surprised to see Tim Curry (playing doctor Monro) in the movie, and despite having a small role he did it with style. Well there is no doubt that the two leading men, Simon Pegg (playing William Burke) and Andy Serkis (playing William Hare) were the driving force of the movie, and those two worked really well together. There was an odd, dark chemistry between those two on the screen.After having seen the movie, I was left with a thought that it would be cool if these two characters also made it on to an ongoing TV show, because it did seem like it had enough value to actually pull off a TV series as well. Burke and Hare are two characters that really are funny and unique.