33/42
In a small Texas town, a friendly undertaker befriends a wealthy widow, but when she starts to become controlling, she does everything she can to get out of his clutches. Real-life residents of Carthage, Texas, who knew the real Bernie, Science and Marjorie Nugent, appear in the film to comment on the events. Bernie committed murder in 1996, but she answers her iPhone almost immediately after the murder. Townsperson: [speaking of Marjorie Nugent] He’d chew your ass off at the drop of a hat. I mean, he’d rip you a brand-new, three-bedroom, two-bathroom, double-wide asshole. No problem. Before the main credits roll, photos of the real-life Bernie and Marjorie together are shown, as well as a short video of Bernie Teide talking to Jack Black. According to the film’s Technical Information link, there are two different versions of this film: one 1 hr 39 min (99 min) and the other 1 hr 44 min (104 min) (US). Featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Jack Black/New York City’s Meatball Shop Guys/Beirut (2012). Love Lifted Me Written by James Rowe and Howard E. Smith Performed by The Florida Boys Courtesy of World Entertainment Adapted by Warner Music Group Film & TV Licenses. Jack Black’s casting in the title role of this 2012 dark comedy proves to be a masterstroke by director and screenwriter Richard Linklater, as the real-life character of Bernie Tiede is a comically ambiguous figure, not just sexually, but more. to the point, a cheerful, child-like man-person who is beloved by his small town of Carthage, while strangely insistent on his constant presence in their lives. His heightened need for universal acceptance and unconditional love make Bernie unique on screen. It takes Black’s oddly unpleasant on-screen personality to make the character work as the protagonist of a closed-off complex, and in turn he delivers his most accomplished screen work to date. The versatile Linklater (“Before Sunrise/Sunset”) tells this hard-to-believe true-crime story with morbid humor and surprising conviction. A seriocomic 1998 Texas Monthly article, co-written by Skip Hollandsworth, the plot revolves around the unlikely relationship between Bernie, a relentlessly thoughtful assistant funeral director, and Marjorie Nugent, a recently widowed woman and one of Carthage’s wealthiest women. While Bernie becomes indispensable to the fabric of the community with his charitable deeds, Broadway-style choral solos, and his gentlemanly way of comforting widows in their grief, the perpetually nauseous Marjorie is always ready for a fight. not only the townspeople who get in the way of his life, but even his immediate family who can’t stand him. However, Bernie is able to break through his icy veneer with a dash of perky persistence, and their relationship develops into something of an unhealthy dependency, to say the least. As Marjorie showers Bernie with expensive gifts and lavish vacations, she becomes increasingly manipulative in her need to control his every move to meet her every need. Even Bernie has limits to what he’s willing to do under her iron fist, and it goes without saying. , there are consequences. Despite all the dire consequences, Linklater keeps the mood light by adding intertitles that indicate what the film will tackle next, as well as brief interviews he conducts with both the cast and real Carthage residents, all of whom show their unwavering support for Bernie as he faces his mounting problems.