Burke and Hare (2010)

Director: John Landis
Writers: Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft

When Simon Pegg gets together with John Landis, the legendary Director of classic films such as An American Werewolf in London and The Blues Brothers, surely this makes for a recipe which cannot fail, which is why Burke and Hare comes as such a shock. Where are the comedic set pieces? Where are the unexpected twists and turns? Where is the wit? Burke and Hare promises such things, but delivers merely stock slapstick and jokes about the emptying of the privy bucket. How did this happen? How could this happen? John Landis is a seasoned Director, and Simon Pegg an accomplished scriptwriter. As the audience’s initial smiles lessen, fading to looks of confusion, and eventually devolving into looks in directions other than the screen, procrastinating in order to endure this tedious ninety minutes, they wonder how it could all go so wrong.

19^th Century, Edinburgh: the centre of Science and Medical Research. Two rival surgeons Doctor Monro (Tim Curry) and Doctor Knox (Tom Wilkinson) compete for the King’s prize for the greatest advancement in medical science. Burke and Hare chronicles the notorious serial killings committed by its titular conmen, Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis, who trade fresh cadavers for coin. During their exploits, Burke is seduced by a young aspiring actress Ginny Hawkins (Isla Fisher), and deceived into financing her all-female production of the Scottish Play.

Burke and Hare has too much fat. There are too many unnecessary points, resulting in a convoluted story structure, with great chunks a chore to sit through. Bookended by a narrator who gives a summary of the entire film, followed by a long sequence of exposition, the main characters are introduced a third of the way through the film. This might lead one to believe the film is building to something complex, but alas, when the characters themselves come with no backstory, and are portrayed so cartoony, and scenes begin to drag on interminably before fizzling out minus a punchline, the truth is revealed. Particularly when the clichéd love interest subplot fails to satisfy, falling flat, and adding nothing to the greater story, it becomes even more laboured to withstand.

Simon Pegg is a naturally funny man, but not even he can save the film from mediocrity. The funeral parlour tries so hard to be quirky and macabre, and there are a few chuckles to be had here and there, but nothing particularly clever, or even memorable. The black comedy has already been done before, and better, and once that well has run dry, the script resorts to senseless slapstick and runaway barrels filled with corpses.

Multiple high-calibre actors grace the film with their presence, including Bill Bailey, Christopher Lee and Steven Merchant. However, apart from Ronnie Corbett’s mildly amusing pompous, bumbling Captain McLintoch, they are given so few interesting things to do that their talents are wasted and their appearances achieve little but provide a naming game to preoccupy the audience before they can leave.

The film could have been much more enjoyable in a more streamlined cut, skimming the useless subplots and condensing the actual story, although in that circumstance it would be severely lacking in the running time. Unfortunately what we are presented with here is a tortuous mishmash of underdeveloped and unoriginal plot points, strung together with some placeholders for comedy, much less than the sum of its parts. It’s finally been released in Australia, a year after its run in the States, but perhaps that’s a good thing. Maybe this corpse is best left buried. You won’t die laughing.

2 / 5