"Bernie"

Comedy, Crime. Rated PG-13. 1 hour, 44 minutes.

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Bernie Tiede (played by Jack Black) was an Assistant Funeral Director in the town of Carthage, Texas. He was a kind, gentle and compassionate man. With his beautiful voice, he loved to sing gospel songs and give caring and kind eulogies for the deceased.

During the entire movie were testimonials from the townspeople about how nice and generous Bernie was to them.

After the funeral of one woman's husband, generous Bernie visited the widow, Marjorie Nugent (played by Shirley McLaine) and he brought flowers, candy and bath products. You see, comforting the people left behind made Bernie the most likable person in town. Marjorie was the wealthiest woman in town and the meanest also. Nobody like Marjorie. She was just plain nasty to everyone.

As Bernie became close to Marjorie, she treated Bernie like a slave to cater to her every whim, for which he got paid well. However, eventually Bernie got to the end of his rope and despised Marjorie. As he got sick and tired of her telling him what to do, Bernie shot her in the back four times and put her body in the freezer in the garage.

Bernie was a shopaholic and spent her money like crazy for nine whole months before he finally got caught. He was charged with murder.

The District Attorney, Danny Buck (played by Matthew McConaughy) prosecuted Bernie to the full extent of the law. But the townspeople couldn't believe Bernie would do such a thing and wanted to get him off for being such a nice person. What happens next, you will have to see the movie.

Scenes for the film were shot all over Texas: Austin, Bastrop, Carthage, Georgetown and Smithville. Richard Linklater directed Bernie. He previously worked with Black in 2003's The School of Rock.

I thought it was a fairly good movie and seeing Jack Black in such a serious role was very different. Some parts were funny even though the subject matter was about funerals.

OVERALL RATING: B-

Graphic credit: Millennium Entertainment

Bernie movie poster