Review of Bernie (2012) by Tired Of P — 09 Feb 2013

Question: Are you a fan of Jack Black? If so, you might want to check out Bernie. It came out last year. Many probably missed the theatrical release because it did not stay out for very long. What a pity since I think this may be Jack Black's best performance to date.

Jack Black is entertaining in everything he does: Tenacious D, his comedic roles and even his dramatic roles which there aren't many. He is a true original and has talent in abundance, but many only acquaint him with the sidekick comedic portrayals when his career started to take off.

We may all know him best as the short, over-weight Shallow Hal, the bombastic monk Nacho Libre, or the one-track-mind guitar player in The School of Rock once he started obtaining lead roles. His stint in King Kong was the closest to his most dramatic reach but the overall film was a mess that his performance was muddled and soon forgotten. However, I promise that you have never seen Jack Black quite this way as he portrays real-life Bernie Tiede.

The same director of Slacker, The School of Rock, Dazed and Confused, and Before Sunrise, Richard Linklater delved into this true tale from a different perspective - which is something he appears to do with all his films. His style of directing is so diverse that it's hard to pinpoint a "type" per se; except that he appears to tell stories about ordinary people in unique situations that other storytellers might not want to tackle.

Bernie is just such a story and was perfect for Linklater's filmmaker abilities. He even told this one differently than his past films with an almost documentary feel with interviews of (real) townspeople intermixed throughout the entire film. The story is based on a newspaper article from Texas that came out a few years back about a man, an assistant funeral director, who was probably the most respected man in town - with good reason - but who is arrested because of an unspeakable act. No one in the town wants to believe it except for the DA Danny Buck, played by Matthew McConaughy.

Jack Black's performance was stellar. Bernie was a very kind man; an overly generous person whose sole purpose in life was to make sure people felt comforted when bereaved or not alone when others may have stopped caring. Bernie was liked by all, and by Jack Black's portrayal, you can see why.

Bernie's kindness, however, was pushed to the edge and beyond when he befriended a mean, lonely widow played by Shirley MacClaine. Watching Jack Black play this relatively non-comedic character (Bernie is a black comedy) did take a few minutes to get used to. There was always that cusp of whether to laugh or not, but Linklater and Black kept it at a good balance without cheapening the quality of the character or going too cliché.

As you witness this man and what he is trying to do with his life, you are simply swept away by the performance. You will forget that he was the stoner brother of Colin Hanks, a Neil Diamond impersonator trying to save his friend or the goof-ball, record-store snob. Well done, Jack Black.

Review: 8 out of 10.