Cheap Weekend at Bernie's (DVD) (Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman) (Ted Kotcheff) Price

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Customer Reviews of Weekend at Bernie's

When Larry (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard (Johnathan Silverman) uncover an embezzlement scam at their office, they report it to their boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), expecting a promotion, not expecting that Bernie himself is the culprit. Bernie invites them to his beachhouse that weekend, planning to have them killed by a mafia hit man. But, the mafia bad guys have other plans, and they have him killed before Larry and Richard arrive. When they discover Bernie's dead, they at first want to tell the police, despite the fact that they may inadvertendly frame themselves. They soon decide to keep up the face the Bernie's still alive and kickin'.

Did I laugh? HELL YEAH!! WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S has got to be one of the funniest movies ever. It's hilarious to watch Larry and Richard desperately trying to make Bernie's corpse appear to still have a spark, like in the scene where they try to get on a boat with Bernie's body. How they make it appear that he's walking is hard to describe, and even harder not ot laugh at.

Another great scene, involving Bernie's girlfriend from NYC, who goes into a room where Bernie's body is waiting. She emerges from the room as a necropheiliac without even knowing Bernie was dead. This was somewhat overlooked by the critics, but it is worthy of positions held in the "greatest movies of all time list" by movies like VERTIGO or TITANIC, which aren't very good.

That's more than I can say for the sequel, WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S 2, but if you can laugh at things like a corpse jetskiing (so to speak), and I'm sure you can, than stop by BERNIE'S this WEEKEND. As I said above, it was the best WEEKEND of my life.

The corpse is the "life" of the party!
Two young insurance company employees, Larry (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard (Jonathan Silverman) discover an instance of fraud and report it to their boss Bernie (Terry Kiser). Unfortunately for them, Bernie is the one behind the fraud, and he asks his mobster associate to take them out. Unfortunately for Bernie, the mobster sends his hit man to eliminate Bernie instead. Larry and Richard arrive at Bernie's gorgeous beach house for the weekend and, after discovering that Bernie is dead, manage to make it look like he is still alive so that they can enjoy the rest of the weekend.

An uncomplicated, very slightly plotted farce that is actually pretty fun if it hits you in the right frame of mind. The whole thing is extremely silly and yet extremely funny at times. McCarthy and Silverman are very lively, but Kiser completely steals the movie as the title corpse. I first noticed this amusing actor on a hilarious episode of 'Three's Company', and have remained amused by his performances ever since. However, I think that sad-eyed cult actor Don Calfa ("Chopper Chicks in Zombietown", "The Return of the Living Dead" is also worth mentioning, in a good comedy performance as the hit man who grows increasingly flustered in his attempts to kill Bernie once and for all. Catherine Mary Stewart is attractive and appealing enough as the girl Richard is interested in.

It also seems to be part satire: a commentary on self-absorbed rich jerks who are so into what they themselves are doing that they can't notice (or even sense) that Bernie is dead.

The movie's Canadian director, Ted Kotcheff, appears on screen as Richard's father.

All in all, a good comedy. I give it 4/5.

Dark Comedy, Light Fun
The cast is perfect and the sets, music, and all that went into this movie seem to meld to make a very funny movie. Andrew McCarthy as Larry Wilson and Jonathan Silverman as Richard Parker are a good match for co-workers at an insurance company. Larry the brown nosing party man and Richard the hard working nerd. When Richard discovers a two million dollar mistake in claims their boss Bernie invites them over for the weekend to discuss it. What happens after that is sick, demented, and funny. Any fan of "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag" and "The Whole Nine Yards" should enjoy it. This is one of those rare movies were seeing a dead person being lugged around, beat up, dropped, bareface ski, washed around in the tide, shot, strangled, and more is just plain outrageously funny.