Reely Bernie Faves: Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

“I have you scheduled for 6pm. What name should I put it under?”

“Bernie, like in Weekend at Bernie’s.”

(Today, there is a 50/50 chance the person on the other line knows what I’m talking about. If they do, they always say, “Oh, I love that movie!” If they don’t, there’s always a good awkward silence, and then Senator Bernie Sanders comes up.)

Guilty as charged—I first saw Weekend at Bernie’s and liked Weekend at Bernie’s only because my first name was in the title. 

Exonerated after dozens of viewings and admitting that Weekend at Bernie’s is refreshingly innocent compared to today’s shock humor—I’ve come to realize that the “move-the-stiff-around-the-party-and-pretend-he-didn’t-die” gag is still lower-gut silly and fundamentally 80s.

Out of all the decades in movies, the 80s is the most screwball, and there lies the charm. In its comedy category ickiness are buddies, crushes, hormones, simple plans gone awry, and embarrassments. The underdogs always win, the soundtracks include candy wrapper saxophone riffs, and you leave the movie thinking, “Wow, that was really stupid, but I kept laughing.”

What makes this one-trick pony carcass so funny is the Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy) duo. Richard is the “straight man”/”feed” and Larry is the “funny man.” Bernie is the… well, the dead man.

Bernie’s body (played by stiff actor, Terry Kiser) gets stapled, bludgeoned, and shot, but Richard and Larry take most of the hits in humiliation. The two work well off each other. They’re affable. It’s as if they are childhood buddies, putting on a skit. And that’s just it: this one-joke ploy miraculously extends to a 96-minute, enjoyably goofy skit. The primary events occur in a timeline of an evening and the next day, and the wardrobe never changes, including Bernie’s (yuck).

Richard: “Paddling…in the Atlantic Ocean…on a dead body. This is now the perfect weekend. It started when I almost broke my leg jumping on a moving ferry. I get to this beautiful beach, and my host—sorry—he’s dead. I fell down a lighthouse. I had a corpse wash up next to me on the shore. Then, I find out that my dead boss—he’s not only a thief; he wants to kill me. I almost drown. The girl of my dreams now thinks I’m a raving lunatic. And now, we’re going back to the house of death.”

Larry: “Great weekend, huh?”

Richard: “Great weekend.”

As per usual, while compiling my list, I remember seeing movies like this with my middle brother and our babysitters. We knew back then it was dumb, but compared to the raunchiness and mean-spirited stuff they make today, Weekend at Bernie’s is innocent fun, and I still revisit it for a mindless escape and laughs. I own the premiere release vintage movie poster from 1989, and my wife will let me hang it up in our new house (in the garage).

I know the Millenials and Gen Z-ers won’t get it, and I’m dating myself even more by saying that, but I’m grateful to be alive to watch and enjoy such a stupid movie.

Reely Bernie Faves:

1. Amadeus (1984)

2. Magnolia (1999)

3. Poltergeist (1982)

4. Pulp Fiction (1994)

5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

6. The Godfather Part II (1974)

7. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

9. Goodfellas (1990)

10. Nosferatu (1922)

11. Pollock (2000)

12. Kicking and Screaming (1995)

13. Jaws (1975)

14. Fargo (1996)

15. Citizen Kane (1941)

16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

17. The Endless Summer (1966)

18. Back to the Future (1985)

19. Angel Heart (1987)

20. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

21. The Goonies (1985)

22. Trainspotting (1996)

23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

24. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

25. Bambi (1942)

26. The Paradise Lost Trilogy (1996-2011)

27. Psycho (1960)

28. Parenthood (1989)

29. Swingers (1996)

30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

31. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

32. Smoke (1995)

33. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

34. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

35. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

36. City of God (2002)

37. 1917 (2019)

38. Black Swan (2010)

39. School of Rock (2003)

40. Mulholland Drive (2001)

41. Groundhog Day (1993)

42. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

43. The Greatest Showman (2017)

44. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

45. The Florida Project (2017)

46. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

47. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

48. Shadowlands (1993)

49. Steve Jobs (2015)

50. ¡Three Amigos! (1986)