PHOTO BY SKIP BOLEN / AMAZON

It’s not rocket science. Stick to an established formula, get a couple of people who really know how to act and keep things moving; you’ll probably have a successful movie.

Such is the case with “The Burial,” a pleasant and compelling courtroom drama directed by Maggie Betts, in her sophomore effort after the Sundance hit “Novitiate.” “The Burial” is a fictionalized version of the real-life court case that took down the predatory funeral corporation the Loewen Group in the mid-’90s.

Yes, it’s a movie about contract law in the funeral industry — and yet it’s interesting. That’s an achievement of its own.

Jeremiah Joseph O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) is a small-town businessman who runs a chain of funeral homes. He wants to hand the family business down to his children, but he’s got money problems; he decides to sell a few homes to a conglomerate run by a glad-handing billionaire (Bill Camp). When it becomes clear that the bigwig is trying to screw him out of his company, O’Keefe decides to sue.

His longtime lawyer (Alan Ruck) wants to play it straight, but a young associate (Mamoudou Athie) wants to hire a ringer. He’s seen fawning coverage of slick personal-injury lawyer Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx) and thinks the hotshot can charm the jury. After selling Gary on the case’s potential as a career boost, a mismatched team of attorneys is ready to kick off a courtroom circus.

The cast, also including Jurnee Smollet as the venomous opposing counsel, is fantastic; Jones and Foxx are both in fine form, with the former showing the soft-spoken intensity that has carried much of his career. Betts sets a brisk pace that both helps gloss over the legal wrangling and make up for the moments where the script, by Doug Wright, stumbles.

Unlike the court case that inspired it, it’s an easy win — and with a game cast, you’re more than happy to stick around and see how it turns out. As sturdy as the courtroom drama format can be, I’m surprised we don’t get more of them. This one, fortunately, is pretty good.

My Rating: 7/10

“The Burial” is now streaming on Prime Video.