Search - Weekend at Bernie's on DVD

Jennifer F. (KnJFisher) from GILLETT, PA
Reviewed on 12/14/2008...

Weekend At Bernie’s is a breezy dark comedy that revolves around one big hook: a corpse most people don’t realize is dead. Deep, yes. The corpse in question is Bernie, an insurance company bigwig who steals from the till, tries to have two employees killed when they discover it, but ends up murdered himself by the mob for his carelessness. This all goes down on a vacation resort island, where everyone is mostly drunk or in the throes of partying, and thus don’t notice that Bernie’s not… performing as usual.

The unwitting employees are Larry (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard (Jonathan Silverman), who are invited out to the island by Bernie as "houseguests." Movie comedy law states that if two guys are buddies, then one of them must be very pris and stuck-up (Richard) and one a free-wheeling self-centered ego-maniac (Larry). After their discovery of Bernie’s demise, they choose to not call the police for a variety of reasons, but mostly this — the longer Bernie stays alive, the longer their vacation lives on.

This is a flick that most people see once, if not multiple times, in their lives, yet don’t have much of an opinion about it other than noting the oddity of a party-happy dead guy. It’s dumb and not really as funny as you may remember, but serious criticism is deflected by the whacked-out premise. How can you seriously denounce a movie like this for not having a deeper plot or better acting? You can’t. Just shrug, accept the slapstick and pratfalls and double-takes, and try not to choke when you see what people actually thought was hip to wear back then.

I am in the mood to watch campy movies from the 80's lately and this one definately fits the bill..Enjoy!

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Aimee M. (AimeeM)
Reviewed on 2/5/2008...

Funny movie, but I think what makes it really funny is how 80s it is! The clothing cracks me up.
The over-all concept is a good one, with plenty of slap-stick comedy.
Parents should be made aware of some homosexual jokes, and other innuendos that they might not want kids to hear and see.

1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Classic black humour of 80's

Lady Lana | 01/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fantastic film that i first saw when i was little and i like it still. Amazing black humour, nice and relaxing comedy. After 20 years is still funny: funny actors, funny scenario and just 5 stars."

A hilarious farce!

Kurt A. Johnson | North-Central Illinois, USA | 09/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy) are two working stiffs trying to get ahead in corporate world. While working overtime, they find evidence that someone has been defrauding the company, and they take their evidence to their boss Bernie Lomax (Terry Kaiser). Bernie is so impressed with them that he invites them to his weekend house on the coast. Yep, things are looking up for our heroes...or are they? It turns out that Bernie is the thief, and he arranges to have them killed! When the boys arrive at Bernie's they find him dead, and soon find out about his plans for them. Fortunately, none of Bernie's party-hardy friends seem to realize that he is dead. If the boys can keep up the pretext that Bernie is alive, they just might survive. Now, how do you keep anyone from finding out that your boss is actually dead? [Color, released in 1989, with a running time of 1:37.]



OK, no matter who writes the description, this movie is going to sound implausible to the point of silliness. Well...yeah, this is not a movie to be taken seriously. What it is is a hilarious farce, with Terry Kaiser doing a surprisingly funny imitation of a dead guy! The movie is generally clean with one off camera sex scene and one scene with a practically naked woman (Tawny - Elois DeJoria, Playboy Miss April 1988). But, that said, it's a very funny movie that you can watch with your whole family. We love this movie and highly recommend it to you!

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