When the comedy movie Weekend at Bernie’s got here out in 1989, the crucial response was comparatively combined. Whereas it was certainly not thought-about the worst movie ever, it was typically described as cheesy, one-note, and performed in poor style. Roger Ebert actually disliked the movie, giving it just one star and summarizing the problem that many took with it: “Weekend at Bernie’s makes two errors: It offers us a joke that is not very humorous, and it expects the joke to hold a whole film.” The movie holds a middling rating of 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, and an abysmal 32% on Metacritic.
This may increasingly come as a real shock as a result of this movie is thought-about by many to be an incredible comedy of the Eighties. Comedies have gotten away with extra suspect humor up to now, so it is odd that Weekend at Bernie’s was the one thought-about too crude. The movie follows wannabe New York yuppies Richard (Johnathan Silverman) and Larry, portrayed by the charming Andrew McCarthy, who’re invited by their hard-partying employer Bernie (Terry Kiser) to his fancy seaside home within the Hamptons over Labor Day weekend. The 2 arrive and uncover that Bernie is useless, having been killed in a mafia hit. The duo might do the wise factor and name an ambulance, however fearing that they’re going to be implicated and desirous to stay it up over the weekend, they as a substitute faux that Bernie continues to be alive by puppeteering his physique in entrance of his many associates and enemies. This works higher than anticipated.
‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ Darkness Is Its Energy
The critics have been appropriate, as on idea alone, this movie could be fairly stunning as a mainstream goofball comedy. Perhaps a John Waters-type particular person would’ve performed extra with the fabric, and brought the joke to its excessive. However director Ted Kotcheff bought his begin in 1971 with the extremely dirty Wake in Fright, so he clearly proved he held the capability to go darkish. The movie could run on one joke, and whereas the critics on the time actually had no method of figuring out this, that stupidly ingenious joke has sustained itself now for 35 years. The act of slapping a pair of sun shades on a corpse and pretending to maneuver its head and stroll it round is consistently utilized in comedy and animation, nonetheless to at the present time.
Maybe it is as a result of the preliminary thought is so stunning that these two wacky doofuses with a dream spend the film doing one thing each grotesque and deeply unlawful. It is performed off like a goofy comedy, and that tonal dissonance virtually works within the movie’s favor on reflection. It is definitely not a sensible portrayal of this deeply disturbing state of affairs, however the movie would not have that stunning mainstream enchantment if Bernie went by the varied phases of decomposition. Credit score actually have to be given to Kiser and his stunt double Rock A. Walker for ragdolling their method by the movie — pretending to be useless is surprisingly very tough.
The Social Satire of ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’
Weekend at Bernie’s satirizes a quite fashionable goal for 80s comedy movies: the hedonistic extra that the last decade’s higher courses have been characterised by. As quickly as Richard and Larry arrive within the Hamptons, virtually everybody, together with them, are reprehensibly egocentric individuals. A celebration is thrown at Bernie’s seaside home and never a single visitor realizes that he is useless, regardless of speaking at and interacting with him the entire time. That is one thing Richard and Larry look upon in horror, however they’re no higher. Richard is meant to be an earnest, romantic schmuck, however he lies about a number of deaths in his household simply to attain a date with a coworker. Larry is meant to be the charming sensible man, however the entire ploy to faux Bernie’s alive comes from his personal selfishness. The goal of each of those gents is to maneuver up of their fast-paced world and get wealthy rapidly, however that is precisely what value Bernie his personal life.
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“What sort of a number invitations you to his home for the weekend and dies on you?”
The malice that radiates from this movie is kind of humorous —everyone seems to be a menace, as even a random little child is simply right here to trigger chaos. It is wicked, it is tasteless, and it is mean-spirited, however there’s a spot for that in comedy. Particularly if you’re punching up, the thought of the aspirational lifetime of automobiles, ladies, and seaside homes being emotionally empty. Bernie is on high of the world, but all his so-called “associates” are too wrapped up in themselves to note his physique rotting on his couch. Are we going to hell for laughing about it? Maybe. However we’re nonetheless laughing regardless.
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Weekend at Bernie’s is out there to hire on Amazon within the U.S.
