Bernie

Richard Linklater done-did-good with Bernie. In making this film, he gave Jack Black an opportunity to show the world that he has serious acting chops and he gave Shirley MacLaine the opportunity to have some fun with a role that she was oddly perfect for...

In Bernie, the two main characters were people with "issues." You had Black, who played Bernie Tiede, an effeminate (aka super gay yet also super Christian) assistant funeral director and MacLaine, who played Marjorie Nugent, a rich widow with a forceful personality (aka often ornery and likely misunderstood). Bernie and Marjorie met and became "friends" while Marjorie was grieving over the loss of her husband. The relationship between Bernie and Marjorie was an unusual one and not at all a healthy one. You see, it ended when Bernie shot Marjorie in the back and stored her in her own freezer for a few months while he used her money to become something of a small town philanthropist. He was found out and tried for her murder and then things became even more interesting.

The storyline was woven together with interviews of townspeople talking about Bernie and Marjorie. The interviews had the potential to detract from the story. They didn't, instead they made the movie. The interviews were a big reason why Bernie was fun to watch. They were necessary. The film wasn’t so much about who Bernie and Marjorie were but how they were perceived by others. Marjorie was hated because she was a rich "bitch" and Bernie was loved because he was overly friendly and did things for others. It was an interesting dynamic but the way people judge others in itself is not unusual. The unusual thing was that Bernie was so loved by the townspeople that, even after giving a confession, a large portion of the townspeople wanted him to be set free. It was up to Matthew McConaughey as the quirky District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson to go outside of the box and outside of the county to receive a fair trial against Bernie. It is a unique story that is told with some serious flair.

You can describe Bernie as almost any genre and provide a somewhat accurate description of what the film is. I choose to describe it as a dark-comedy/docu-drama/crimey-whimey type film. It has a lot to offer and it is worth checking out. There are many things to appreciate in this film for anyone who has lived in, visited, loved, hated, or just simply heard about Texas. And although the story is based on events that happened in a Texas town, it makes little sense to hold that fact against the film because the film is more about small town mentalities and eccentricities than anything else. Plus it's a chance to see Jack Black really act. He surprised and impressed me. I wouldn't be too shocked if he ended up with an award or two for this performance.

(Millenium Entertainment)

Oh and Dale Dudley played a very believable radio personality in the film. It was a stretch for him, I am sure, but he pulled it off. So there was amazing acting all around, from Jack Black all the way to Dale Dudley.