Big Screen Peter: Bernie

Bernie is a dark-comedy par excellence. It's quirky humor with a razor sharp edge that rips the cover off of east Texas, somehow existing both as a searing riposte to rural life and an endearing portrait.

The comedy picture is based on an article by Skip Hollandsworth that appeared in a 1998 issue of Texas Monthly. The piece, titled Midnight in the Garden of East Texas, told the intertwining story of Bernie Tiede, a 39 year old mortician, and Marjorie Nugent, an irascible millionaire.

As incongruous as it seemed to the townspeople of Carthage, Texas, the pair became close companions. This incongruity — a preening, but impossibly kind-hearted man and a crotchety, borderline neurotic woman — is the inherent magic behind Bernie. It's a palatable unreality that was in fact real life: a glimmering and unyielding piece of the magical and mysterious mosaic of American life. The fact that Bernie ended up shooting Marjorie Nugent in the back four times slams that unreality home.

But a movie, unlike an article, is more than just a story. The words that brought the original story to life aren't enough to suffice on the silver screen. Certainly, creating a comedy movie out of a real murder is a delicate task. Director Richard Linklater and his co-writing partner Skip Hollandsworth tread that path well. Bernie is set up in the vein of a Greek tragedy, with interspersed action scenes that “tell the story” of Marjorie and Bernie popping up between interviews with “residents” of Carthage talking about the character and actions of each personage as the movie unfolds.

This documentary nod to authenticity is excellently scripted (and/or edited), creating a rich and humorous backbone to the wonderful performances by both Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine, playing Marjorie Nugent.

And it's there, within that Greek chorus of Carthage residents that most of the movie's commentary takes place. It's there, within the riotous humor and catty gossip that Linklater peels back the layers of east Texas. Voices of empathy and biting gossip paint a portrait not only of Marjorie and Bernie, but of their entwined community. 

Linklater's effort is no dismissive satire, and it shows. In the hands of a less capable director, the story of Bernie and Carthage, Texas, would ring hollow. That fine, front porch yarn spinning would seem an empty exercise. Instead, the voices of Carthage wind back and forth throughout the movie to wonderful effect.

Which, in turn, serves to enhance the wonderful acting performances of Black, MacLaine, and Linklater's old friend, Matthew McConaughey. Bernie is by no means a perfect reproduction of life in east Texas, but it's damn close. And damn funny to boot.

Of course, with a three city release, the drawback is that it might be awhile before it finally hits a screen in Arkansas.