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IMDbPro

Bernie

  • 20112011
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
61K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,550
1,320
Matthew McConaughey, Shirley MacLaine, and Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
In small-town Texas, the friendship between the well-liked local mortician and a a reviled wealthy widow becomes the focus of much debate and scandal once she turns up dead.
Play trailer2:09
16 Videos
99+ Photos
BiographyComedyCrime
In small-town Texas, an affable mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when she starts to become controlling, he goes to great lengths to separate himself from her gr... Read allIn small-town Texas, an affable mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when she starts to become controlling, he goes to great lengths to separate himself from her grasp.In small-town Texas, an affable mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when she starts to become controlling, he goes to great lengths to separate himself from her grasp.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
61K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,550
1,320
  • Director
    • Richard Linklater
  • Writers
    • Skip Hollandsworth(based on the article in Texas Monthly by)
    • Richard Linklater(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Jack Black
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Matthew McConaughey
  • Director
    • Richard Linklater
  • Writers
    • Skip Hollandsworth(based on the article in Texas Monthly by)
    • Richard Linklater(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Jack Black
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Matthew McConaughey
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 176User reviews
    • 232Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 10 wins & 19 nominations

    Videos16

    U.S. Version
    Trailer 2:09
    Watch U.S. Version
    Bernie
    Clip 1:05
    Watch Bernie
    Bernie
    Clip 0:43
    Watch Bernie
    Bernie: She Had Bernie (Spanish Subtitled)
    Clip 1:33
    Watch Bernie: She Had Bernie (Spanish Subtitled)
    Bernie: Bernie Did It (Spanish Subtitled)
    Clip 1:20
    Watch Bernie: Bernie Did It (Spanish Subtitled)
    Bernie: Clip 15
    Clip 0:22
    Watch Bernie: Clip 15
    Bernie: Clip 13
    Clip 0:45
    Watch Bernie: Clip 13
    Bernie: Sonny Explains Texas
    Clip 1:11
    Watch Bernie: Sonny Explains Texas
    Bernie: Clip 3
    Clip 0:24
    Watch Bernie: Clip 3
    Bernie: Clip 11
    Clip 0:36
    Watch Bernie: Clip 11
    Bernie: Marjorie Freaks Out
    Clip 1:07
    Watch Bernie: Marjorie Freaks Out
    Bernie: Townspeople Speculating
    Clip 0:40
    Watch Bernie: Townspeople Speculating

    Photos132

    Matthew McConaughey in Bernie (2011)
    Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Shirley MacLaine in Bernie (2011)
    Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Richard Linklater in Bernie (2011)
    Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Shirley MacLaine in Bernie (2011)
    Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Jack Black in Bernie (2011)
    Jack Black in Bernie (2011)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Black
    Jack Black
    • Bernie Tiede
    Shirley MacLaine
    Shirley MacLaine
    • Marjorie Nugent
    Matthew McConaughey
    Matthew McConaughey
    • Danny Buck
    Brady Coleman
    • Scrappy Holmes
    Richard Robichaux
    Richard Robichaux
    • Lloyd Hornbuckle
    Rick Dial
    • Don Leggett
    Brandon Smith
    Brandon Smith
    • Sheriff Huckabee
    Larry Jack Dotson
    Larry Jack Dotson
    • Rev. Woodard
    Merrilee McCommas
    • Molly
    Mathew Greer
    • Carl
    • (as Matthew Greer)
    Marjorie Dome
    • Townsperson
    Tim Cariker
    • Townsperson
    Fern Luker
    • Townsperson
    Jack Payne
    • Townsperson
    Sonny Carl Davis
    Sonny Carl Davis
    • Townsperson
    • (as Sonny Davis)
    Chris Humphrey
    Chris Humphrey
    • Townsperson
    Ann Reeves
    • Townsperson
    Kay Epperson
    • Townsperson
    • Director
      • Richard Linklater
    • Writers
      • Skip Hollandsworth(based on the article in Texas Monthly by) (screenplay)
      • Richard Linklater(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Real residents of Carthage, Texas who knew the real Bernie Tiede and Marjorie Nugent appear in the film providing commentary on the events.
    • Goofs
      Bernie committed the murder in 1996, yet he answers an iPhone nearly right after the murder.
    • Quotes

      Townsperson: [talking about Marjorie Nugent] She would chew your ass out at the drop of a hat. I mean, she'd rip you a brand new, three-bedroom, two-bath, double-wide asshole. No problem.

    • Crazy credits
      Before the main credits roll, photos of the real-life Bernie and Marjorie together are shown, along with a brief video of Bernie Teide talking with Jack Black.
    • Alternate versions
      According to the Technical specs link for the film, there are two different versions of this movie: one running 1 hr 39 min (99 min), and the other for 1 hr 44 min (104 min) (USA).
    • Connections
      Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Jack Black/New York City's Meatball Shop Guys/Beirut (2012)
    • Soundtracks
      Love Lifted Me
      Written by James Rowe and Howard E. Smith

      Performed by The Florida Boys

      Courtesy of World Entertainment

      By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

    User reviews176

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Morbidly Seriocomic True-Crime Story Gives Black an Ideal Role for His Quirky Persona
    Casting Jack Black in the title role of this 2012 dark comedy turns out to be a masterstroke on the part of director and co-screenwriter Richard Linklater because the real-life character of Bernie Tiede is a comically ambiguous figure not only sexually but more to the point, as a jovial child-man personality beloved by his small Texas town of Carthage while at the same time, strangely insistent in his constant presence in their lives. His pointed need for universal acceptance and unconditional love is what makes Bernie unique as a screen creation. It takes Black's oddly discomfiting screen persona to make the character work as a protagonist of closeted complexity, and in turn, he delivers his most accomplished screen work to date. No stranger to Texas-size guffaws intermingled with wry observations about human nature, the versatile Linklater ("Before Sunrise/Sunset") tells this hard-to-believe, true-crime story with both morbid humor and surprising conviction.

    Based on a seriocomic 1998 Texas Monthly article by co-screenwriter Skip Hollandsworth, the plot revolves around the unlikely relationship between Bernie, a relentlessly thoughtful assistant funeral director, and Marjorie Nugent, recently widowed and one of the richest women in Carthage. As Bernie becomes indispensable to the fabric of the community with his acts of charitable kindness, his Broadway-style choir solos, and his gentlemanly way of comforting widows in the throes of their grief, the ever-scowling Marjorie is always ready for battle with not only the townsfolk who impede on her life but even her immediate family who can't stand her. Bernie, however, is able to breakthrough her icy veneer with his cheery persistence, and their relationship evolves into an unhealthy codependence to put it mildly. As Marjorie lavishes Bernie with expensive gifts and luxurious vacations, she grows increasingly manipulative in her need to control his every move to meet her every need.

    Even Bernie has his limits about what he is willing to do under her iron fist, and needless to say, consequences ensue. For all the dire consequences, Linklater keeps the mood buoyant with the insertion of intertitles to signal what question the movie will address next and with the brief interviews he includes with both actors and true residents of Carthage, all showing their unqualified support of Bernie through his burgeoning troubles. Much like Warren Beatty did in "Reds", Linklater uses them as a cumulative Greek chorus who on one hand, provide some of the film's biggest laughs, and on the other, illustrate just how myopic and oppressive a small town can be in its rumor mongering ways, so much so that Bernie's trial has to be moved fifty miles away in order to allow the light of objectivity to filter into the proceedings. As Bernie, Black finally has a multi-dimensional role that fits him perfectly, and I would be hard pressed to identify anyone else who could have played the character to the seriocomic depths he achieves here.

    Well into her seventh decade of movie stardom, Shirley MacLaine is not particularly challenged in portraying Marjorie's sourpuss nature since she's been playing variations on the same role since her turn as the ornery Ouisa in "Steel Magnolias". However, in one key scene, she lets loose all her insecurities that exposes the impenetrable cage in which she has put the increasingly desperate Bernie. Linklater favorite Matthew McConnaughey ("Dazed and Confused") plays the showboating district attorney Danny Buck with gusto, although I wish he was reined in a bit more to provide more of a contrast to the other two principal actors. The movie is a fascinating meld of the Coen Brothers' "Fargo" and Hal Ashby's "Harold and Maude" with an unexpected dose of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries. While Linklater does not completely avoid making Carthage the object of ridicule, he has made a black comedy with surprising resonance when all is said and done, especially when you see the real Tiede in an archival video clip at the end.
    helpful•57
    5
    • EUyeshima
    • Aug 27, 2012

    FAQ1

    • Is it Jack Black doing the singing in the movie Bernie?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 22, 2012 (Iceland)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Берні
    • Filming locations
      • Carthage, Texas, USA
    • Production companies
      • Mandalay Vision
      • Wind Dancer Productions
      • Detour Filmproduction
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $9,206,470
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $85,805
      • Apr 29, 2012
    • Gross worldwide
      • $10,173,061
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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