Bernie (2011)
Genre: Comedy / Crime
Duration: 104 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Stars: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey
IMDb score:
6,8 (67.073)
Releasedate: 27 April 2012
Bernie plot
"A story so unbelievable it must be true."
Bernie (Black) is the beloved undertaker in a small Texas town. Even the richest and meanest widow (MacLaine) in town is crazy about him. No one can say the wrong word about Bernie – not even if he commits a particularly gruesome crime. He kills the widow and afterwards spares no effort to create the illusion that she is still alive.
Actors and actresses
Bernie Tiede
Marjorie Nugent
Danny Buck Davidson
Scrappy Holmes
Larry Brumley
Don Leggett
Cashier
Jerry
Mr. Estes
Truck Driver
Reviews & comments
The One Ring
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- 29974 messages
- 4109 votes
Richard Linklater usually chooses nice material for his films, which makes them easy to watch. Likewise here again. It's a very wacky thing being discussed here and as usual Linklater has enough eye for character and dialogue to make something fun out of it again. A figure like Bernie could easily become a caricature, but here he is fascinating. Probably also Jack Black's best role by the way. What gives the film something extra is that at the end it is still quite unclear to what extent Bernie used Marjorie. The image painted here of a semi-saint is almost convincing, but Linklater and Black also suggest that more could be at play.
It is also a bit of a shame that Linklater is perhaps the most recording of all the great directors. I don't even mean that in a documentary way, but especially in the field of camera work. He always seems to just place the camera somewhere so that the action is clear, but without any further idea behind it, let alone ever filming beautiful images. You can be happy with a short camera movement. He also rarely really does anything in terms of editing and music. Bernie is no exception. Linklater is the opposite of many directors who prefer form over substance: he is hardly form and above all content.
But it works, even if it doesn't make it a masterpiece. The acting (besides Black MacLaine and McConaughey were also great to enjoy) and the addition of real villagers that Bernie knew and who are interviewed here (with scripts as a guideline) make it a great film.
3.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Insignificance
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- 3220 messages
- 5589 votes
I'm actually starting to have some appreciation for Black. That he can handle the type, because that's it in the first instance, was in it, but after a while he also manages to add some flesh and blood to his Bernie. Yet a few times he puts on a face that betrays a person, one that is aware of evil, guilt and regret. Pretty well done.
It gives the film a certain sensibility, where the rest mainly consists of occasionally chuckling and then shaking your head again at mild humor, certainly in the beginning also of the morbid, black kind, and wonder about how people react to the perpetrator and on each other. An amazing story that is boosted by the reasoning of the people who speak.
Like the reason the lawsuit is being moved. Peculiar. In that respect, the docu style with interviews does work. They seem to find it amusing themselves, but despite McConaughey being on a roll and MacLaine putting down a terrible pair of pliers, it's a bit too far away for me to get into it. It's just not sharp enough for that.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Vinokourov
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- 3143 messages
- 2909 votes
This is a surprisingly nice movie from Texas with Jack Black in top form and a nice supporting role for Matthew McConaughey as District Attorney. Well, I'm a fan of these kinds of films that are set in rural America anyway. The types from there are caricatured but also lifelike. Bernie is about an undertaker who does a lot of good for the small town of Carthage. He is widely loved and even manages to make friends with a rich widow, who can safely be called the bitch of town. For a moment it seems that the friendship makes her friendlier, but then Bernie kills her anyway.
That's when the movie gets really interesting. The film is continuously interrupted by interviews with the villagers. Funny in the beginning, but it also somewhat slows down the pace of the film, but after that murder it becomes interesting what those people have to say and how they look at that murder. Thought Linklater was showing real residents of a Texas town, it was a shock to discover that Bernie was a true story.
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