Burke and Hare: DVD Review
Burke and Hare
Rating:M
Released by Universal Home Ent
A comic retelling of the 1820s Westport murders, Burke and Hare is
an odd kind of film.
The ever brilliant Simon Pegg stars as William Burke and Andy
Serkis is William Hare, a pair of conmen who're trying to make ends
meet in Edinburgh.
When they overhear that corpses can fetch a pretty penny from the
medical industry, they decide to supply Dr Knox (Tom Wilkinson)
with corpses to make some cash. Trouble is, people aren't dying too
quickly from natural causes - and that's where things take a
murderous turn.
However, when the cash they earn pushes them in to the upper
echelons of society, Burke falls hard for travelling actress Ginny
(Isla Fisher) and starts to suffer from conscience&
And with the militia (headed up by Ronnie Corbett) onto the
murders, it looks like the noose is tightening around their
necks&
A queasy mix of murder and comedy, Burke and Hare seems to fail on
both levels because it can't decide whether the dark tale needs to
be told seriously or with a tongue firmly in its cheek. The main
duo are hapless and it does play against the truth of the murders
but the guest cast is stunning - a veritable who's who of the UK
comedy scene.
Burke and Hare is a curio and probably one for fans of Ealing
comedies more than anything - it's a botched attempt at a mixing of
genres and the resultant mess is a frustrating
disappointment.
Extras: Deleted scenes and outtakes
Rating: 4/10
