Where the fuck did this movie come from? I’m obviously a big fan of Landis’s previous works, and I guess I was taking a bit of a time off during this period after the DMR Turbekistanisjan syndication debacle, but dang! This one sneaked under the radar, and I’m a lesser person for it. Until now. Great comedic stuff here, both blatant and nuanced.
Technically based on the Real People Burke & Hare, they are a bit of the entrepreneurial sorts even if they are a couple of schlubby muckers. Canal Diggin jobs have dried up, so Hare (Andy Serkis) has some new plans, and his buddy Burke (Simon Pegg) can see the values in that. Unfortunately it seems their plans don’t usually pan out. But in the fine city of Edinburgh (the capital of Scotland one, not the one in Indiana), in the fine year of our Lord 1828, they find a new avenue to make money. A Lucrative one, at that. And with some money comes...other things. Good and bad. Mostly bad, in usually a very comedic kind of way.
Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis do fantastic jobs here with the roles and comedic expressionisms, as well as all the supporting cast in some way or another. Some great narrating, and roles by Tom Wilkinson and Tim Curry in competing Doctor roles, Isla Fisher as the hottie love interest, and even some appearances by Christopher Lee, Jenny Agutter, and a return in a throw-back to the Terry Gilliam-starring film Spies Like Us, Ray Harryhausen. Fuck. N. A.
John Landis Nailed it with some great comedies starting with Kentucky Fried Movie and Animal House, and then the 80s just kinda took its toll as it rolled on, apparently. We will not speak of Blues Brothers 2000. I still can’t bring myself to watch it. Why? Why?!? But his last directed film is this. And it’s a pitch perfect period piece of a story that is true, except where it isn’t. Fantastic black comedy, glad to see Landis go out on a high note. I think he’s still alive, but yeah, I think he’s done. I kinda hope so. This is a good one to bookend the career.
