Bernie is a delicious reminder of how much writer/director Richard Linklater can elevate a film. Jack Black has a tendency to ratchet up his enthusiasm to an 11 which can be fun in spurts but is usually not enough to carry the movie. In Linklater/Black’s previous effort, School of Rock, Linklater used Black’s enthusiasm to bounce off kids and teach himself to grow up. In Bernie, Linklater dials back Black to a 4 or 5 and internalizes Bernie’s thought process to make him a more compelling character. Bernie is a fun character study of a kind man and how an entire town can be blinded by kindness.
Told by entire town of Carthage, Texas, Bernie (Jack Black) is the story of an assistant funeral director who is loved by everyone in the town, but especially elderly women who find him charming and caring. Taking a particularly strong shine to the man is Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), the richest, meanest woman in the town. She is very possessive, monopolizing Bernie’s time. Eventually her worse characteristics rub on Bernie so much that he ends up killing her. Making this killing more complicated for prosecutor Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey) is the fact that Bernie has used his power of attorney with the Nugent’s money to provide gifts for every hard-luck candidate in the town.
What Linklater does best is incorporate Bernie into the small town culture. The movie opens with some of the day-to-day activities by Bernie: he pretty much helps most of the town whether it be directing a play or caring for someone’s dead/living relatives. Linklater elects to tell the story through the eyes of the townspeople who actually witnessed most of these events, which is necessary because of how little material there actually is, but is also very useful in showcasing how far-reaching the effect one man can have on a small town. These people only care how the man treats the person individually, and will defend one of their own against a perceived outsider and showboat like Buck.
Eventually, the use of the townspeople turns into a crutch as it is the source for easy material since the townspeople are so charming. The trial side of the story is underdeveloped and slightly rushed due to the laziness of the first half, as if to wrap things up. Perhaps if the story shifted more to Buck’s point of view later in the story, the dichotomy of small town/real world morality would be more interesting, and would allow more pressure to be felt by Bernie.
As the lovable portly fellow, Jack Black is a revelation. He really dials back his energy but keeps the enthusiasm, making Bernie a very lovable man befitting his tiny town. His chemistry with Shirley MacLaine is fascinating, especially with Black selling the very tiny things that irritate him to “madness.” The very fact that we second guess the result of the trial is a testament to how well Black sells Bernie to the audience. MacLaine is solid if not great here. She’s very good at playing cold. Matthew McConaughey is underutilized as the prosecutor, though he is very fun in the scenes he is in. The biggest sell other than Black though is the townspeople, who are some of the most interesting charming people I have seen on-screen in 2012.
Bernie, like its main character, is a tiny movie. Tiny does not necessarily mean worse though. Bernie has a very distinct point of view that takes what should be a black and white issue and paints it in shades of grey. I was very dismissive of Bernie when I heard about it, but like its main character would sing, Love Lifted Me.