Review of Weekend at Bernie's (1989) by Andrew M — 12 Jul 2014

There are the odd chuckles in this comedy film, and it certainly isn't the worst film of it's era, but "Weekend at Bernie's" is still the textbook example of a one-joke film.

The story is very simplistic - two young professionals are invited to their bosses weekend house on a luxury island as a reward for uncovering an embezzlement case. However, their boss was behind the embezzlement so organizes for the mob to have them killed. The issue arises when the mob decide to kill the boss, Bernie, instead, leaving the two targets confused, believing they must make everyone believe Bernie is alive to avoid being killed themselves.

It's kind of a juvenile concept, and it get rather repetitive at the halfway mark ("Oh, no! Bernie's fallen over. Again. Silly Bernie."). It also includes a love subplot that goes absolutely nowhere and adds almost nothing to the plot.

The young cast, led by Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy and including Jonathan Silverman, Terry Kiser and Catherine Mary Stewart, are servicable, but often fall into cliched acting techniques and even sometimes just seem to be parrotting lines, rather than acting.

All in all, it's an OK movie, and some of the scenes will illicit a chuckle, but it won't get much further than that I'm afraid.

3 stars.