I know what you’re thinking — “Jack Black? Shirley MacLaine? Small town funerals? Quiet, thoughtful humor. Where do I sign up?!” Now please keep calm. For some unknown reason, Bernie failed to beat out Avengers at the box office this week.
So, yes, there’s this assistant funeral director who develops an abusive relationship with an aging widow … wait, where are you going? Yeah, if that didn’t turn you off just wait until you hear the cast: Jack Black as the friendly young tool, Shirley MacLaine as the bitter widow and Matthew McConaughey as the law.
Bernie is the kind of film that separates groups of film fans. I daresay the Venn diagram intersection of Bernie viewers and, say, Transformers viewers represents a true group of cinemaniacs – we will literally see anything. I know, I know, you’re all jealous for not being part of this group, right?
In some ways, this was the part Jack Black was born to play. All of his tools: the awkward grace, the chumminess, the 
incessant need to sing, the playful amity, the moments of weakness, are front and center on display as Bernie. I can’t imagine any other actor playing this part. Really. It has to be somebody who comes off as small-town likeable, a small hero in a small pond, yet easily manipulated and big-city weak at the same time.
Bernie Tiede (Black) was employed as a part-time funeral director, where he was a genius. To choose any other role for Bernie would be a crime. He was the kind of guy who gave your funeral dignity, and did so with the care we all should receive. We big city folk can’t imagine this clown going to the pains he goes to in comforting the grieved. Can you fathom a guy giving you flowers a week after your grandfather died? I’d be suspicious or shoo him off the front porch hat-in-hand. In a small town, however, his actions are most welcome and border on heroic.
And then the pain. Bernie is based on a true life story of a man who got mixed up with the wrong widow. Personally, I hate true life stories as a rule. Most of them end up reminding me of Night Listener. :shudder: I mean, let’s face it, Super 8 hasn’t real got life roots. And it’s not like Bernie is action packed or a laugh riot. It is simply a quiet and amusing romp. I was quite fond, but if you miss it? Not like life will stop altogether, y’know?
A small town death/can make you cry
Fear not, Bernie/will dignify
The hag has claws/our boy’s her prime
Shirley, you’ll die/before your time.
Rated PG-13, 104 Minutes
D: Richard Linklater
W: Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth
Genre: Quiet, reserved humor, I daresay a first for Jack Black
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Small town folk
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Suspicious octogenarians
