Weekend at Bernie's written by Robert Klane

When thinking of my favorite movie, the first that came to mind was Weekend at Bernie's. The comedy film was written by Robert Klane and directed by Ted Kotcheff. The main characters are Larry Wilson, played by Andrew McCarthy, and Richard Parker, played by Jonathon Silverman. Other main characters include Bernie Lomax, played by Terry Kiser, and Gwen Saunders, played by Catherine Mary Stewart. Weekend at Bernie's was released in 1989 with a budget of $15 million.

The story begins with Larry and Richard working together at an insurance company as financial employees under Lomax. When Richard finds incorrect payments, he reports it to Lomax. In return, Lomax invites Larry and Richard to his beach house for the weekend. Little do they know that Bernie is supporting the fraud! Now that Richard and Larry know, Bernie asks a partner of his to have them killed in order to keep them quiet. The partner that was asked this favor has a girlfriend, Tina, who is being a little too friendly with Bernie lately, so instead of killing Larry and Richard, the partner arranges for someone to kill Bernie!

As Bernie arrives at his beach house and organizes Larry and Richards death by planting money and a letter that says they committed the fraud, his hitman comes and injects him, killing him with overdose. When Larry and Richard finally arrive at the beach house, they find Bernie dead! As they find the fake letter and money, they put two-and-two together and figure out that someone might be after them, as well. However, they think as long as Bernie is with them, they are safe, due to a phone message they heard. Before they can call the police, numerous people show up at the house and begin their weekly party. Some even try to engage in conversation with Bernie! They all think he is still alive! As much as they want to tell the police what has happened, they think the police will accuse them of murdering Bernie. They also want to enjoy the weekend at the beach house. So as a solution to the problem, Larry proposes that they act as if Bernie is still alive. Even though Richard is against it at first, he agrees to the plan after seeing Gwen, his crush, at a party.

The plan seems to be running smoothly until Tina shows up to see Bernie. Afraid she will discover that he is dead, Larry and Richard are reluctant to tell her where he is. When they finally give in, she goes into his room and even goes to bed with him! Richard and Larry think they are done for now, but when she comes out, they are shocked to find that she never realized that he was dead. They continue to take Bernie with them everywhere and even make it look like he is alive by tying their shoes to his and walking for him. They also move is arms by putting their hands through his jacket.

As they continue to explore the island with Bernie, the hitman who killed Bernie sees him and believes he is alive! Going crazy, the hitman returns to the beach house to kill Bernie once again. Right before he arrives at the house, Richard tries to explain to Gwen the situation they are in. She is in disbelief that Bernie is dead when the hitman comes in and opens fire on Bernies corpse. When the hitman sees that Richard, Gwen, and Larry saw his act, he begins chasing them. After much struggle, Larry manages to tie him up with a phone cord and punch him. The police arrive soon after and put the hitman in a straitjacket and Bernie on a stretcher. Larry, Richard, and Gwen sit on the beach and discuss their future plans as the stretcher begins moving and throws Bernies corpse behind them!

All of the actors and actresses had extraordinary performances! Andrew McCarthy and Jonathon Silverman made the movie hilarious. The directors vision was to make a movie that made the audience laugh and he achieved it! The movie was funny the entire time and there was never a time when I didn’t laugh.

According to the critics and audience, the movie was a one-joke film that wasn’t funny at all. I respectively disagree with this perception. Although it could be a little corny at times, it made me laugh the whole way through. My sense of humor may be a little different than the critics and other audience members because I thought the film was hilarious. Weekend at Bernies is my favorite movie because when I need a good laugh, I always turn to watch it.

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