Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) 20th Century Fox/Comedy RT: 98 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, comic violence, sexual content, abuse of a corpse) Director: Ted Kotcheff Screenplay: Robert Klane Music: Andy Summers Cinematography: Francois Protat Release date: July 5, 1989 (US) Cast: Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, Terry Kiser, Don Calfa, Catherine Parks, Eloise Broady, Gregory Salata, Louis Giambalvo, Ted Kotcheff, Jason Woliner. Box Office: $30.2M (US)
Rating: *** ½
Never has abuse of a corpse been as funny as it is the 1989 cult comedy Weekend at Bernie’s. Before you go running for the exits, let me assure you it’s all in good silly fun. Aside from the unsavory-sounding premise, this isn’t one of those flicks where blood and body parts end up all over the place. I promise you that at no time does anybody attempt to play “Autopsy” with the body of the late Bernie Lomax (Kiser, Mannequin: On the Move).
It’s surprisingly light-hearted for having such a dark premise, but that’s part of the overall appeal of Weekend at Bernie’s. I think this movie is a freaking riot! It starts out conventionally enough with a story involving Mob-backed insurance fraud, but quickly takes on a different tone after the titular character kicks the bucket.
It’s directed by Ted Kotcheff, the Canadian filmmaker most known for introducing the world to action hero John Rambo in the 1982 actioner First Blood. He also directed the disturbing Australian chiller Wake in Fright (1971). It might surprise you to know that Kotcheff is also responsible for comedies like the original Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), Switching Channels (1988) and Folks! (1992). I think that Weekend at Bernie’s is his funniest movie.
My buddy Ken and I didn’t expect to laugh so hard when we caught the late afternoon show on opening day. I thought it would be yet another marginal midsummer comedy that would disappear from theaters after a week or two. I admit it when I’m wrong and that was certainly the case with Weekend at Bernie’s. It stuck around for a little while and deservedly so, it’s hilarious!
Two low-level employees at an insurance company, the serious career-minded Richard (Silverman, Brighton Beach Memoirs) and more laid-back Larry (McCarthy, Mannequin), uncover evidence of insurance fraud and bring it to the attention of their boss Bernie. He commends them for being so conscientious and invites them to spend the weekend at his beach house in the Hamptons. Not so fast, this Bernie guy is a dishonest sleazebag. He’s involved with the Mob and the invitation is just a pretext to lure the boys into a trap. Yep, it’s going to be a good old-fashioned Mob hit! But wait, there’s more.
The gangsters pull a double-cross and arrange for Bernie’s murder instead. Not only is he a greedy little twerp, he’s also sleeping with the boss’ girlfriend. So it is that hitman Paulie (Calfa, The Return of the Living Dead) shows up at the beach house and kills Bernie. Richard and Larry arrive soon thereafter and discover their deceased boss sitting at his desk. At this point, they should call the police as any reasonable person would. Before they can do so, a whole bunch of people turn up for a party. It seems that Bernie’s large house is kind of the area’s Party Central. The funny thing is that none of the revelers seem to realize their host is no longer among the living.
It’s bad enough that the guys let the party proceed, but then Larry suggests that they put off notifying the police for fear of being implicated in Bernie’s death. Sensible Richard opposes this, but he really doesn’t have much of a choice, especially after his office crush Gwen (Stewart, Night of the Comet) arrives on the scene. Their recent date was a complete disaster and Richard really likes her a lot. She likely wouldn’t approve of how they’re handling the dead Bernie situation. In any event, it soon becomes a matter of self-preservation in maintaining the illusion that their boss is still alive, especially after the boys find out what’s really going on. It doesn’t help at all that Paulie keeps returning to “finish the job” on Bernie.
Now what do I mean when I say that Richard and Larry maintain the illusion of Bernie being alive and well? It means that Larry seats him in a beach chair and manipulates his movements by way of ropes and pulleys. It means that the guys tie their shoelaces to Bernie’s’ and walk him around the island. What else does this mean? It means that Bernie’s corpse is subject to a great deal of abuse. It means that the guys keep losing him and finding him. It means that Paulie makes repeated attempts to kill the already-dead man. It means that Bernie ends up being dragged behind a speeding motorboat. For the audience, it means a laugh riot!
I doubt that Weekend at Bernie’s will appeal to everybody. My wife didn’t really care for it. It takes a warped and twisted sense of humor to appreciate something like Weekend at Bernie’s. The whole notion of abusing a corpse is yucky and unpleasant; it’s not funny in the traditional sense. This is why it’s regarded as a cult movie.
That being said, I think Kiser should have won a special Oscar for his performance as Bernie. How about “Best Performance by an Actor Portraying a Corpse”? It takes a great deal of talent and physical tolerance to do the things that he did in Weekend at Bernie’s. I applaud Kiser for his efforts. Silverman and McCarthy make a pretty funny comedy duo in that their rapport comes off as completely natural. The pairing of uptight Richard and relaxed Larry reminds one of a certain other Odd Couple. Do the names Felix and Oscar ring a bell? Stewart is a very funny and very attractive lady and makes a nice addition to the cast. If there has to be a love interest (and there always does), why not somebody with both talent and looks?
I can see where normal folks would find Weekend at Bernie’s distasteful, but thankfully I am anything but normal. I still get a real kick out of this movie. It’s just great silly fun and I highly recommend it to those with a taste for the distasteful.
