Bernie

★★★★

(2011)

Skip Hollandsworth’s bizarre true tale of a much loved funeral director in Carthage, Texas who landed himself in a real unexpected spot of bother first appeared in article form in a 1997 edition of Texas Monthly. Bernie Tiede’s personality was as big as he was and the strange twisted small town story baffled middle America at the time. Genre hopper and all round nice guy Richard Linklater and Hollandsworth have adapted the article with a little help from the people who knew and loved Bernie into a strange but nearly perfect black comedy.

Jack Black gives a wonderfully sugar coated theatrical performance as Bernie. A man ensconced in his work, proud and jovial, professional and charismatic despite dealing solely with death. Bernie is legendary in Carthage, his gospel singing and charming tact with the bereaved make him a favorite with old ladies and Texan gentleman alike. One widow, the feared and now inexplicably wealthy, Marjorie Nugent (a sour faced Shirley MacLaine) eventually gets her hooks into Bernie and forges a strange, near servant like, relationship with him, exploiting his kindness and naivety. His own time and time for the people who adored Bernie is slowly diminished along with his patience and he is driven to do something exasperatingly out of character.

Linklater, known for violently shifting gears from one project to another, cleverly utilises actual interviews of the dry inhabitants of Carthage, interspaced with wonderfully acted ones. Matthew McCounoughey excels as the drawling town sheriff, never wandering far from his infamous dead pan delivery but, at the same time, giving Bernie it’s warped antagonistic edge. He raises questions about Bernie’s life, sexuality and ambition along with his fascination with appeasing everyone and being loved because of it. Even as it sways into darker territory Bernie somehow manages to be unexpectedly warm and welcoming.

That is undeniably down to Black’s best performance since Noah Baumbach’s brilliant Margot at the Wedding. Yes, he gets to sing, but his restraint never lets him break into the bombastic belly laughs which made him a household name. It’s a measured and assured step back from the near cornball persona which constantly follows him around. MacLaine is bitterly good as Bernie’s moral captor, slowly sucking the kindness from his ample theatrical frame. Meanwhile, Linklater shows himself, once again, to be un-pigeon-hole-able, drawing a hugely entertaining film from a strange and shocking tale which ultimately questions our own career choices, our generosity and our much darker side.