A diverting black comedy about two small businessmen, Burke and Hare, who begin a commercial enterprise by supplying teaching hospitals with fresh cadavers, at first from natural deaths, then "resurrected" from graveyards, and then REALLY fresh cadavers.The scenes of dissection are a little disgusting, true, but there's only one on-screen murder and it's play for a squeamish kind of comedy. The acting is fine, with Wilkinson superb as the willfully blind and hypocritical Doctor Knox, remarking that Edinburgh has always been a dangerous place to live and how much more dangerous it's become since Burke and Hare have begun supplying him with specimens.Simon Pegg is Burke, who begins as a shabby Irish immigrant whose new profession allows him to buy spiffy clothes and sponsor a young actress's production of MacBeth. Andy Serkis, with his pop eyes and mile-wide grin does a splendid Hare, boffing his greedy wife while she dreams of founding a different business -- "a coffin supply house; no, that's too down-market; a funeral PARLOR." That expression "down-market" is surely an anachronism and there must be plenty of others, and even more improbabilities. I'm just too lazy to look them up. But I doubt that this happens: Dressed in their new finery, Burke and Hare seek entrance to a private club full of food, wine, and women, but are denied entrance by the burly doorman. They get past by claiming with a smile that Hare is the famous poet William Wordsworth. The huge guard is all apologies. Later that night, the real Wordsworth shows up. The guard insists the real Wordsworth is already inside. The indignant Wordsworth introduces his companion, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, played as a twit, and the guard looms threateningly over them and growls, "And I'm Bobby Burns, now move your arse!" I described that little incident in some detail because it's a good example of the kind of humor you can expect from the film. Not that all the gags are "literary." Burke and Hare choose a tall, thin, well-dressed drunk as their first murder victim. They interrupt his singing "The Bonny Banks o' Loch Lomond" by pushing him down a seemingly endless flight of stone stairs. Down rolls the body, noisily banging and bouncing from wall to wall, finally to lie still at the bottom. The murderers hurry down to examine the body but before they reach him, he struggled to his feet, puts his hat back on, retrieves his cane, and strolls off into the night, singing again. Yes, it's Charlie Chaplin all over.I can't pass up one or two other exchanges. In a saloon, Burke describes the woman he loves and claims "she's not a whore, she's an actress!" Hare squints at him across the table and, genuinely puzzled, asks, "What's the difference?"And then there's this. At a prestigious medical convention, one doctor is overcome with envy at another's renown and remarks, "Without meaning to give offense, Doctor Lister, your breath smells TERRIBLE." (The joke is in Lister, Listerine, antisepsis, etc.)You'll laugh out loud once or twice but mostly you'll be amused by the roguish character of the two principals and the shameless pettiness of the others. If you like "The Wrong Box," you ought to like that. Handsome production values, by the way.

Director John Landis is mostly famous for having made some excellent comedies (Trading Places, Spies Like Us and Coming to America), but he's also revered in the horror cinema for having made the extraordinary An American Werewolf in London. 12 years after being absent in cinema, Landis decided to come back with the film Burke and Hare, which combines horror and comedy. And even though I found the combination of genres too unstable, the film kept me moderately entertained despite its mediocrity.The funny elements from Burke and Hare generally work because of the solid performances from Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis, but I wish the film defined its character better. In other words, the comedy is constantly clogging the drama, and the drama feels completely out of place in the context of the black humor employed by this movie. It's like watching two very different movies at the price of one, but combined in such a forced and inconsistent way that the final result is not very satisfactory.However, as I said on the first paragraph, Burke and Hare managed to keep me moderately entertained, and I think it deserves a slight recommendation because of that. However, there are very superior horror comedies (such as Shaun of the Dead and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil), which are better balanced and are funnier.

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).

This is a black comedy about two men who makes a fortune by selling bodies to the medical profession for anatomy classes.The story of "Burke and Hare" is dark and disturbing if you think about it, but it does not feel this way when you watch it. Instead, it appears lighthearted and likable, even though the main characters commit the most heinous crimes. The plot is engaging, and I feel a little sorry for Dr Knox and William Burke for their fate to end like that.The film has loads of dark humour. It is funny in its own unique way, not the laugh out loud nonsense type of funny. It is worth a watch if you come across this film.