Bernie

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Bernie: Trailer 1

Bernie: Trailer 1

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Cast & Crew

Jack Black

Bernie Tiede

Shirley MacLaine

Marjorie Nugent

Matthew McConaughey

Danny Buck

Brady Coleman

Scrappy Holmes

Richard Robichaux

Lloyd Hornbuckler

Rick Dial

Don Leggett

Brandon Smith

Sheriff Huckabee

Larry Jack Dotson

Reverend Woodard

Merrilee McCommas

Molly

Mathew Greer

Carl

Sonny Carl Davis

Lonnie

Juli Erickson

Mrs. Estes

Gabriel Luna

Kevin

Richard Linklater

Director

Richard Linklater

Screenwriter

Skip Hollandsworth

Screenwriter

Celine Rattray

Producer

Martin Shafer

Producer

Liz Glotzer

Producer

Matt Williams

Producer

David McFadzean

Producer

Judd Payne

Producer

Dete Meserve

Producer

Ginger Sledge

Producer

Richard Linklater

Producer

Don Fox

Executive Producer

Darby Parker

Executive Producer

Jack Gilardi Jr.

Executive Producer

Johnny Lin

Executive Producer

Ken Hirsh

Executive Producer

William T. Conway

Executive Producer

Michael Bassick

Executive Producer

Duncan Montgomery

Executive Producer

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Critic Reviews for Bernie

Audience Reviews for Bernie

• Aug 08, 2017

  Bernie offers Jack Black his best acting performance yet. His subtly eccentric and endearing, despite the heaviness of his character arc. Based on real events, Bernie feels like a full on gossip session, with documentary like interview cuts with the Carthage townsfolk. These breaks from the core narrative are inspired and often amusing. For those who know the story on which it is based, Bernie will come as a surprise about halfway through, when the audience believes they are watching a pleasant comedy about an unlikely friendship. It was an enjoyable, odd film and I rather enjoyed it, while still never feeling it probes quite deep enough. Rating: 71
  

  bradley j Super Reviewer
• Nov 17, 2013

  Sadly, "Bernie" is not the long awaited for biopic of Bernie Kosar.(Sorry, couldn't resist.) Rather, it is concerned with the real life story of Bernie Tiede(Jack Black), an assistant funeral director in Carthage, Tx who goes the extra mile in his job. That includes looking after the recent widows including Marjorie Nugent(Shirley MacLaine). That along with all the volunteering Bernie does around town makes him much beloved amongst the townfolks. That is with the exception of Danny Buck(Matthew McConaughey), the local prosecutor. All of which feeds into the movie's blackly comic way of stating that there are two sides to every story, thus easing my fears of another sentimentalizing of a killer, even though "Bernie" is clearly on his side. Well, as the movie says, that's Texas for you. And Richard Linklater would know, as he also points out that there is more than one Texas, making it not unlike the districts in "The Hunger Games," but with much better barbecue. He also does well in casting non-familiar faces in most parts. But Shirley MacLaine, like last season on "Downton Abbey," curiously underplays her role when something of a more robust performance is called for.
  

  walter m Super Reviewer
• Oct 06, 2013

  True crime stories have a tendency to be sensationalistic. Many films based on high-profile murders, kidnappings or other such cases go out of their way to be shocking or outré, and for every one or two that hit the mark, you get a dozen that come off as cheap, exploitative or just plain ineffective. Psycho wasn't scary because the real-life story of Ed Gene was scary: it was scary because Alfred Hitchcock worked hard to build up a creepy atmosphere in which the famous killings could take place. Bernie arrives into this often histrionic little sub-genre much like its main character: it's a polite, orderly, cheery soul who does things rather differently. Reuniting Jack Black with director Richard Linklater, ten years after they collaborated on School of Rock, it is a surprisingly naturalistic blend of comedy and docudrama which raises several interesting moral questions. While it doesn't quite do enough to enter the pantheon of truly great dark comedies, it is nonetheless a very fine and memorable piece of work. Throughout his long and variegated career, Linklater has had a knack for two things: creating believable and naturalistic characters, and then keeping said characters at the forefront. This is true of whatever genre he's working in, whether romance (the Before trilogy), sci-fi (A Scanner Darkly), musical comedy (School of Rock) or historical drama (Me and Orson Welles). His approach is often akin to documentary, in that he allows characters to speak and develop for themselves; you never get the sense of his camera pushing or telling people to go and do things a certain way. For a film which is to all intents and purposes a comedy about death, Bernie is surprisingly gentle in both pace and attitude. Many black comedies are stylistically and narratively aggressive: the likes of Heathers and Kind Hearts and Coronets push their characters at you, surrounding them with dark tones and shadows to compliment their acid tongues and cruel intentions. Bernie, on the other hand, is a film which puts you with its characters in fairly inviting surroundings. Even the scenes in the funeral home are pleasantly lit, with an emphasis on achieving a naturalistic tone rather than setting up a given joke. Being a comedy about death, which is slow-burning in nature and more focussed on character than on plot, the natural point of comparison would be Harold and Maude. Both films revolve around a romantic relationship with a big age gap, whose lovers are brought together by their experience of funerals. And with both couples, the relationship is not exactly orthodox, nor is it the toast of the town; the residents of Carthage are perplexed why someone as nice as Bernie would want to spend any time with someone as spiteful as Marjorie. But in fact, the film is much to closer to another Hal Ashby work, Being There. Not only do both films feature Shirley MacLaine, but Bernie Tiede has several character traits which are very similar to that of Chance, played brilliantly by Peter Sellers. Both characters have an angelic innocence to them, a childlike quality which makes them instantly appealing or intriguing as characters. And both, more importantly, are seemly impossible to dislike. They make a huge difference in people's lives, improving their sense of well-being and leaving lasting memories. The only marked difference between them, aside from Bernie's eventual criminality, is that he is more conscious of his good will, while Chance has little to no idea of the impact that he is having. The film also draws to a certain extent on the work of Alexander Payne. Both he and Linklater (at least in this film) try to strike a balance between observing human behaviour in an empathetic manner and a dry, dark and often spiky sense of humour. This film is not quite as successful in this regard as the likes of Sideways or About Schmidt, nor is it as touching or as weighty as Being There. But it's still very touching in its own way, and there is much to like about both the story and the way in which is told. Chief amongst the film's assets is the central performance of Jack Black. What's extraordinary about it is how he manages to play the part so sweetly without it ever feeling fake or forced. Comedians often base their performances and routines on big, broadly comedic gestures, which can often mean that they don't come across as genuine when trying to act dramatically. But Black, having also worked with Stephen Frears and Peter Jackson, knows when and how to be serious, and he does it very well. The other great asset of Black's performance is its understatement. When doing press for King Kong, he remarked that the trick to good screen acting was "moving the eyes rather than the eyebrows", a trick that pays dividends here. Black is a larger-than-life character, which works well in his comedic performances, but here he turns everything right down to make Bernie a very still, sweet and likeable man. He is called upon to sing on several occasions, and you would think that in those moments Linklater would indulge him, given his work on School of Rock. But even then he dials it back, resisting the urge to go off on a Tenacious D-style tangent. Black is flanked on either side by two other good performances which round out the central cast. Shirley MacLaine is very well-cast, bringing a lot of charisma to an unlikeable role and treating those around her with as much contempt and disdain as Siân Phillips' Livia in I, Claudius. Matthew McConnaughey continues his streak of career-resurging nasty guys, turning in an appealingly warped performance as the Sheriff bringing Bernie to justice. Together these two form the malignant forces of spite and suspicion which eventually cause Bernie to snap and commit his terrible crime. At the heart of Bernie is an interesting moral dilemma. According to the law Bernie is guilty: he confessed to the crime and all the evidence supports this verdict. Yet Bernie was so enamoured to the people of Carthage, achieving so much practical and moral good, that punishing him seems somewhat unjust even when we know all the facts. The film treads close to the territory of The Green Mile or A Man For All Seasons, asking us to condemn someone in the face of all the good they have wrought. It makes us question the power and purpose of the law, seeing it as both a worthy standard to uphold and something that can be twisted to all manner of personal whims. This desire of Linklater's to question the boundaries of morality both situate Bernie as a black comedy and compliment the docudrama feel. Like many of the classic Ealing comedies, particularly Kind Hearts and Coronets, the film invites us to conflate notions of justice and morality, asking us if not to embrace the crimes than excuse them as serving some kind of greater or higher purpose. By structuring the film around the testimonies of local residents, the film builds up a more compelling portrait of the man. Rather than being simply told what Bernie did, it is demonstrated to us and we come to accept it more readily. There are a couple of shortcomings with Bernie which prevent it from being elevated to the pantheon of truly great black comedies. The story is ultimately quite slight, not going into as much depth as it could have or bringing out deeper thematic implications of Bernie's actions, as happened in Being There. Moreover, the film is not quite as funny as it could have been. Not every comedy has to produce hysterical levels of laughter, with many of the examples I've quoted here being dry and slow-burning. But a lot of the time the desire to laugh must take a back seat to Bernie's backstory, with the talking heads cutting in over potentially comic situations. Bernie is a very good, heart-warming little film which charms its way into your hearts and lingers there for some time afterwards. Black's fantastic central performance, together with those of his two main co-stars, are well-complimented by Linklater's soft, steady head and abiding sense of empathy for his characters. It's not perfect by any means, but just like its main character it will leave a lasting impression.
  

  Daniel M Super Reviewer
• Jun 04, 2013

  This film from Richard Linklater is yet another look at small town life and the seedy underbelly of said small town. It looks at the story of the real life murder of Marjorie Nugent by her friend and partner Bernie Tiede. Using talking head interviews with real life residents of Carthage, Texas as well as actors, the film takes on a documentary style while also being something of a bio-pic. This inclusion of the residents of the town is one of the best aspects of the film and makes it tirelessly unique as well as entertaining. It's not even these engaging interviews that are the best thing about this film. The performances from the leads are, without hyperbole, some of the best of their respective careers. I have loved watching Matthew McConaughey prove himself in indie films for the past several years, and his performance in this film may be his most understated performance yet. He plays the prosecution in Bernie's case, where he is both the small town lawyer that everyone knows and yet the less than congenial shark that looks to put him away. Shirley Maclaine as the contentious and unforgiving benefactress Marjorie Nugent, portrayed as being very cold and calculating in Bernie's interest. In the beginning of the film, when she meets the lead character, you think the film is going to be about the power of love and changing for the better, or even about a young man taking advantage of a woman who is old and frail. Maclaine plays Marjorie as a fearless and conniving woman who doesn't understand the meaning of "no." Jack Black, beyond a doubt, is the driving force of this film, and gives a performance that is so grounded in Southern sensibility and yet irony. He actually met with the real Bernie Tiede, and his dedication to researching the role pays off in a big way. There is no one else who could have pulled off this role better. The film is straight forward and entertaining, but doesn't grip you or surprise at any time, and that's where most of the criticism comes from for this film. It's about a murder and yet it's so happy go lucky and sweet tempered the entire way through, though it needs to be in order to understand why the trial was moved in the first place. It does shift in tone at times but it's not a gimmicky film at all, and creates characters that really say something rather than have personality quirks.
  

  Super Reviewer