Weekend at Bernie’s is a fantastic comedy and a classic that has stood the test of time and has plenty of replay value even though technically with a plot like this, it shouldn’t have worked but due to the cast and jokes that actually hit their marks, it’s a film well worth checking out if you haven’t already.
Weekend at Bernie’s
(1989)
Genre(s): Comedy
Fox | PG13 – 98 min. – $19.99 | May 6, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Ted Kotcheff Writer(s): Robert Klane (written by) Cast: Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, Terry Kiser DISC INFO: Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0) |
THE MOVIE – 4.0/5
“[…] it’s not bad enough that he’s trying to kill me. Now he’s trying to turn me into a drag queen. Why couldn’t he have said you were going to have the operation?”
Some might scoff at this statement but Weekend at Bernie’s is a classic comedy and one of the perfect examples of the transition from 1980s cinema to the 1990s from the style and loose plot and, frankly, questionable behavior from our two leads. Still, it has plenty of hilarious scenes and even though I’ve seen it now half-a-dozen times, it never gets old.
The plot follows two corporate schmucks, best friends Larry (ANDREW MCCARTHY) and Richard (JONATHAN SILVERMAN) who discover a $2 million discrepancy in insurance payouts, so they take their findings to boss Bernie Lomax (TERRY KISER) who applauds their findings and invites them out to his exclusive beachside mansion to discuss the matter over the Labor Day weekend.
There’s also a side romantic story involving Richard and company intern Gwen (CATHERINE MARY STEWART) and the pair go out on a date but ends in disaster as Richard still lives with his parents.
However, problem is its Bernie who is responsible for the fraud and has enlisted a mobster to snuff the two out; of course Bernie fooling around with said mobster’s girl changes those plans and that weekend, the hit man instead injects old Bernie with an overdose of cocaine instantly killing him. When Larry and Richard arrive, they eventually discover Bernie dead but instead of calling the police for whatever reason they play up the rouse that he’s still alive even as partygoers flood the house of a night of fun. Unbeknownst to them, Gwen is also on the island visiting her parents.
Shenanigans and hilarity clearly ensue. And abuse of a corpse… but the comedy, albeit dark, is quite funny.
Quick Hit Review: Weekend at Bernie’s is a quirky and fun little comedy that for a reason I can’t come up with, resonates today as it did when I first saw it some time back in the 90s. The plot is dumb and all around ludicrous and yet thanks to the two leads with Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman (who share a great friendship chemistry), and some impressive comedy playing a dead body for most of it by Terry Kiser. It’s a brilliant film that against all odds is somehow, someway a comedy classic that has so much replay value.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5
The only feature included is the Theatrical Trailer (2:35; HD).
VIDEO – 3.5/5
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment releases Weekend at Bernie’s on Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 theatrical aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. This is yet another cheap catalog title that is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it is better versus its DVD counterpart where the latter is filled with artifacts and other debris yet this Blu-ray is splotchy in spots but at the same time some close-up objects are finely detailed.
AUDIO – 3.75/5
The movie has been given an sufficient but effective DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. Dialogue levels for the most are clear and the music comes through well enough but I did notice some hissing at times and the track does max out once in a while as well. It’s a standard track but still it’s a modest upgrade over the DVD version.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Overall, Weekend at Bernie’s is a fantastic comedy and a classic that has stood the test of time and has plenty of replay value even though technically with a plot like this, it shouldn’t have worked but due to the cast and jokes that actually hit their marks, it’s a film well worth checking out if you haven’t already. The Blu-ray released by Fox is hardly perfect with merely adequate audio/video transfers and only a solo feature.
Published: 05/16/2014
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.