Weekends at Bernie’s (1989)

Film Title: Weekends at Bernie’s (1989)

Genre: Adventure / Comedy

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Two Most Important Member of the Cast: Andrew McCarthy (Larry Wilson) and Jonathan Silverman (Richard Parker)

Review

[1]The Weekend at Bernie’s is about the two enterprising young men who uncover an elaborate fraud scheme at their company. They are rewarded with a weekend at their boss’, Bernie, striking beach house. However, things get complicated whey they arrive at the beach house because they find their boss murdered. Despite what happened, they decide to have a good time anyway and include their boss in all the activities.

[2]According to Converse Connection Film Review, the movie is basically a modern floor show routine that has been stretched out to make a full length film. The interplay between McCarthy and Silverman ends up the film entertaining. The movie is relatively fast pace, although the subject matter is gruesome when the audience think about. Hence, the continuous on-screen tricks of McCarthy keep the audience interested ignoring the flaws of the story. Similarly, Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman put a lot of energy into their roles. Their unabashed enthusiasm carries the audience through the low brow humor and cliches of the screenplay.

[3]Catherine Mary Stewart and Gwen Saunders, Richard's girl friend both has a small role in the movie. Richard’s inept attempts to court Gwen form a humorous subplot to the story. Similarly, Catherine Parks as Tina, the moll who is two-timing the mob boss with Bernie is given very brief screen time. However, her final scene where she visits the now dead Bernie is one of the best bits of the film because Director Ted Kotcheff keeps this ridiculous situation moving and enjoyable. In addition, the best action scene is during the fight with the mob hit man who actually killed Bernie. This hit man comes back to Bernie's place because everybody else acts like Bernie is still alive.

[4]However, Roger Ebert (1989) criticizes the movie for making two mistakes. First, it gives the audience a joke that is not very funny. Second, it expects the jokes to carry the entire movie. According to him, it is a decision that leads to some long, boring sequences and certain desperation on the part f the actors. Another thing that he criticizes is the role of the dead character. He points out that Bernie’s dead body did not work because it requires the other characters to be stupid. He also point out that it should be immediately obvious to several people in the movie that Bernie is already dead. They must be incredibly dense in order for them not to notice this. Thus, their behavior of not noticing that is so idiotic. On the other hand, he stresses that despite of all these matters, Weekend at Bernie’s still delivers a great 80s comedy and plays it off very well scene by scene.

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[1]Internet. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989). Retrieved November 9, 2006, from http://movies.go.com

[2] Internet. A Converse Connection Film Review of Weekend At Bernie's. Retrieved November 9, 2006, from http://chucksconnection.com

[3] Ibid

[4] Ebert, R. (1989, July 5). Weekend At Bernie's. Retrieved November 9, 2006, from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com