This is the real life story of a Biloxi, Mississippi Funeral Director, Jerry O'Keefe [Jones] who has fallen into hard times because a financial deal he struck with an associate went bad and was thrown into jail, so he was kind of forced to find another deal with a larger funeral company to make ends meet. Even though the contract wasn't signed, the funeral director began to see his family business on the closing end of financial ruin [and bankruptcy] after his business license is suddenly also revoked. He decides to sue the larger funeral business with a civil lawsuit, using a close family friend lawyer [performed by Alan Ruck], but then decides to hire a top-dog flashy lawyer, Willie Gary [Fox] from Florida to expand his lawsuit. The addition of the Florida lawyer exposes corporate corruption and racial injustice in the field of funeral services.
THE GOOD - This is a solid movie with fantastic cinematography and location spotting that truly catches the wide spread farm lands of Biloxi Mississippi in the summer. Fox is a joy to see, playing the hot trotting lawyer, whose ambition is not only to be rich, but to enjoy the prime success of being the next biggest black lawyer to Johnny Cochran. Jones presents a believable beaten down old military veteran, who has everything to lose as his mission to secure a profitable future to his family is now in the dumps. There are some strong dramatic moments and some darkly humorous ones as well, delivered with brilliance and delivering a solid ending to such a tremendous story and plot that actually happened.
THE BAD - The pacing isn't regulated and there seems to be a hiccup in the initial phases of character building, but once the movie hits the second and third sequence of events, the film begins churning out into the right gear at the right time. The soundtrack to the entire film isn't all that spectacular and only one or two songs from the known genre are present in the film. I would have expected a more acoustic soundtrack to deliver the right them to most of the sequences in the film.
POST MORTEM - This is a good film. There were several producers who pitched in to make this film happen, including Fox who believed in this film and story being told. Whether or not the film was intended to make history, there are some historical, narrated parts of the story that make this film quite influential and makes sense by explaining why some statues must come down. Kudos go out to the acting performances of Jurnee Smollett and Mamoudou Athie who were top caliber actors in this sensational film production.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [4 of 5 Stars]
