By Bernie stars Jack Black and centers around a “renaissance man; community leader and mortician, who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a wealthy widow (Shirley MacLaine) that leads to fatal consequences.” Basically, he’s one of those black widowers who marry old women to take their money. I suppose… At least, that’s the only motivation I can really glean from the character in this trailer. The events are told in sort of an interview style format, but from what I gather, it’s not really catering to that gimmick entirely. Trailer’s a bit confusing, huh?
This is one of the last films I would have expected from Richard Linklater, the man responsible for Before Sunset/Sunrise, Dazed and Confused and A Scanner Darkly. He tends to do overly chatty movies, but once in a while, he’ll make a School of Rock that just entertains. I happened to have seen his last film, Me and Orson Welles, which was an excellent recounting of Orson Welles’ early years in show business seen through the eyes of a fictional stage hand played by the delicious Zac Efron, yet didn’t really garner much press esteem. I’m not entirely sold on Bernie yet, but I like the talent involved (even McConaughey seems to be in top form here) and Linklater has yet to make a really bad film.
Personally, I’m holding out for Before Sunrise to the Future Part III.
[Via Yahoo]