"Bernie" (2011)

Bernie is a strange experience. You are basically watching one of those documentaries about an event, with the recreations and interviews, except it is a “real” movie where everything has been written and performed by actors. Only, in this case, over half of the actors are actually the real townsfolk from the real source story.

Bernie is performed by Jack Black in a way that reveals what we already know about the great comics. They are usually great actors. He is the sort of character that really does exist in Texas. I have met my share. Basically he is a really weird but basically good man. He is upstanding, religious, and cares about people. He does things for the community and is genuinely interested in helping people.

And, he is capable of murder.

This story is surprisingly entertaining. It is also a good study of—and warning about—human nature. We are all capable of terrible things. We all know it. What we see here is that we are also all potentially capable of even more terrible things than we could ever imagine.

I don’t know if this will go down as one of my favorite films of the year. I imagine there is a lot I have yet to see that will push it down the list. It is, however, a very well done and watchable movie. Recommend.