Burke & Hare
Starring Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, Isla Fisher
Directed by John Landis
In Scotland in the early 1800s,old friends William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis) are trying to make a living, but failing at it miserably. One day while removing a dead body from Hare's failing apartment, they discover that the medical society will pay richly for fresh cadavers, and so they work with Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson) by getting him fresh corpses.
When the corpses dry up, they set out to make their own by committing murders against the town's seediest, loneliest and most destitute people. As the money rakes in, Burke gets the courage to finance an all female Macbeth production featuring a girl he has a crush on, Ginny (Isla Fisher). As the body count rises, however, the police investigate the multiple disappearances, and they close in on the bumbling duo, threatening to bring their dark crimes to light.
Based on a true story (well, except for the parts that aren't, as is stated in the opening), "Burke & Hare" take a dark lighthearted humorous attempt to tell the real story of the real Burke and Hare, who are two of the most notorious mass murderers in history. No one knows for sure if they were as bumbling as their movie counterparts, but it still turns a highly dark concept and tries to make it humorous. With such great comedic actors as Pegg, Serkis and Fisher, it should've been easy peasy. Instead, we're "treated" to a bunch of drivel with little humor and a storyline so simplistic it could've been written by a three year old. There's not a lot to laugh about with the real story, and trying to make it satirical only makes it less funny. Sure, it had its moments, but so do bowel movements. It doesn't make them pleasant.
Rating: C
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