Review of Bernie (2012) by Chris W — 19 Dec 2012

Before I saw this movie, I knew that Jack Black was a talented performer. Now that I've seen this, I can tell you that he really can act, not just as an exaggerated version of his real self, but truly act act, like genuine thespians do. I really hope he gets awards recognition for this, because he really deserves it.

Black stars in this darkly comedic docudrama based on the real life story of Bernie Tiede- a very effeminate assistant funeral director in the small east Texas town of Carthage, who has the most sunny disposition ever. He is a highly regarded model citizen known for warming even the coldest of hearts. And that's exactly what happens when he befriends Marjorie Nugent- a recently widowed wealthy lady who has a reputation for being very cold, mean, and unpopular in town. Bernie and Marjorie become extremely close, but things turn real sour when, fed up with Marjorie's neediness and badgering, Bernie kills her, hides the body in a freezer, then proceeds to keep up the illusion she's still alive. He also taps into her fortune, but uses the money to help out the community instead of for personal gain.

The film is peppered with 'talking head' - style interview moments conducted with actual residents from Carthage who knew the real Bernie and Marjorie, and I thought this was a neat way to portray things. The insights provided by the people make for a great juxtaposition with the performances by the actors, and it's amazing to see how well the fictional portrayals match up with the descriptions of the real life people.

What might be best of all is how the film doesn't really take a stance on how you should feel about these people. Linklater just presents things and let's it take off on its own from there. It's also a great strength that the performances of these characters come off as 3-dimensional and developed instead of caricatures, which would have been easy to do, especially in Black's case since Bernie has so many quirks. It does start off as one-note, but does eventually grow into something quite substantial.

This is a strong film, but not perfect. For one, the balance in tone is a litle wavering at times, but to be fair, I expected that, given the nature of the story. Also, while the film is funny (mostly pitch black), it's not quite as humorous as Linklater probably thinks it is. It also seems like the film is rather directionless, or maybe purposeless at times, but not enough to completely derail the production.

While I know that this isn't going to be a film for everyone, I do recommend it, if only for the performances by Black (his career best so far), Shirley MacLaine (mostly relying on facial expressions and body language, but still great), and Matthew McConaughey as the determined local prosecutor iffy about Bernie, refusing to believe he really is as nice as he seems.