Bernie (2011)

Directed by

Richard Linklater

Genre

drama film, comedy film, biographical film, crime film, black comedy film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 44m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 1,047 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A beloved small-town assistant to an elderly millionaire develops an intense friendship with her. When the woman is found dead, the town rallies around the kind man accused of the murder.

darkly comicquietly unsettlingslow-burnwrytenderoffbeateeriedeadpan

What happens

Bernie is a 2011 American biographical black comedy thriller film directed by Richard Linklater, and written by Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth. The film stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey. Filmed entirely in documentary-esque drama and true crime elements, the film is based on Hollandsworth's January 1998 article, "Midnight in the Garden of East Texas", published in Texas Monthly magazine and covering the 1996 murder of 81-year-old millionaire Marjorie Nugent (MacLaine) in Carthage, Texas, by her 39-year-old companion, Bernhardt "Bernie" Tiede (Black). The film received critical acclaim for its direction, accuracy in relation to the facts, "Town Gossips" mockumentary format, and particular praise for Jack Black's performance. The film led to a renewed public interest in the case, which briefly led to Tiede’s release from prison before he was ultimately resentenced. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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