Weekend con il morto

Terry Kiser should have been nominated for an Oscar in this role, but sadly the Academy is somewhat conversative in these matters.

Andrew McCarthy has gone on to be a top-rate travel writer, but he left an indelible legacy with his role in this 80s movie that is still a pop culture reference to this day.

"Weekend at Bernie's" is a hilarious film about two losers (Jonathan Silverman and Andrew McCarthy) who stumble onto a plan by some unknown person in their company to steal from the corporation. They tell the boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), and it turns out that he is the culprit. Now he wants the two of them killed, but his wandering eyes make him the target of the assassin. Bernie invites the two losers out to his beach-house in the hopes of them being eliminated. However, he is killed instead and when Silverman and McCarthy discover his body they pretend like he is still alive so they can get the great weekend that their late boss promised them. A truly original idea carries this film which is sick in one sense, but amazingly funny in another. Silverman and McCarthy make a surprisingly effective comedy team. However it is Terry Kiser, in one of the most under-rated roles ever seen during the history of the cinema, that makes the film work as well as it can. His uncanny ability to play a stiff corpse for nearly the whole film is truly revolutionary. If there was ever a performance that was overlooked by the Academy, it may be Kiser's role here (do not laugh). Overall the film over-achieves and is well-worth watching at least once. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Using the word "classic" for this movie may be stretching things a little, but the fact that everybody I know has seen this movie -- and enjoyed it to some extent, is saying something. The concept is ridiculous. Larry (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard (Jonathan Silverman) are invited to their boss, Bernie Lomax's (Terry Kiser), house for the weekend. Bernie winds up getting killed before they get there. The rest of the movie involves the hijinks that occur when Richard and Larry decide to pretend Bernie is still alive so they can enjoy their weekend in paradise. Much of the gags include Bernie's lifeless body being dragged about and posed. What's surprising is that much of the gags actually work. It's a one-joke movie that manages to sustain through the one and a half hours. Pay special attention to the boat scene -- on first viewing my sisters and I were roaring with laughter. Avoid the sequel "Weekend at Bernie's II" like the plague. Rather than inane and funny, the movie is just inane.

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I love this movie. I still remember when it came out and maybe it's just nostalgia because I watched it so many times when I was nine years old, but I still enjoy watching it. It does a pretty good job at catching the look and feel of the late 80s. All the hairstyles and clothing are pretty dated but to me, that's all part of the fun.

It all starts when our guys, Richard and Larry, discover a $2 million insurance fraud scam in their company. When they report it to their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser) he seems grateful and invites them to his beach house for labor day weekend. As it turns out, Bernie is the one doing the scamming and has hired a mob hitman to take them out. Little does Bernie know, that the mob has decided that Bernie has been a little too careless and they have decided to take him out instead. So, by the time Richard and Larry reach the island, they discover that Bernie is dead from what looks like a drug-overdose. Instead of calling the cops, the less than bright Larry, decides it better to pretend that he didn't die. This will work since all of the island partyers are pretty self-absorbed and clueless. This is where it starts getting funny.

Since the hitman is still on the island, he keeps seeing Bernie, who he thought he killed and keeps re-killing him. It's hilarious, because the boys really don't have a clue that the hitman is even around. Watching them lug a dead corpse around, making him look alive, is one of the highlights. The fact that all of the islanders believe he's alive is even funnier. One of my favorite parts of the movie was Andrew McCarthy's performance as Larry. His slacker part killed me and he has some really funny lines. What ever happened to him? Jonathan Silverman also does a great job with an underwritten part. He plays the ulcer-bound Richard who SO tries to be the moral center of the situation. Terry Kiser is incredible, as always and he plays a dead guy VERY well. Some of the stuff that he has to do, I really can't see anyone else pulling off as well. My favorite scenes came when Bernie was alive. The guy is such an unbelievable jerk, he's actually fun to hate.

Ignore the other comments on here, and go get this one. It's great for some laughs and I STILL get a lot out of it everytime I watch it. A great semi-black comedy. Go pick it up and look for the sequel. I enjoyed it as well, although not quite as much.

In New York, Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman) are ambitious employees of an insurance company. While implementing a computer system, they find a two-million dollar embezzlement and immediately report to their boss, the bon-vivant Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser). In return, Larry invites them to spend the weekend at his beach house in Hamptons Island. However, Bernie is the responsible for the theft and he asks his partner, the mobster Vito (Louis Giambalvo), to kill Larry and Richard. Vito assigns the hit man Paulie (Don Calfa) to kill Bernie instead since he is too greedy and is causing many troubles with the mafia and his girlfriend. Paulie kills Bernie with an overdose of heroin and when Larry and Richard arrive, they find their boss dead. But soon there is a party at his house and the guests do not notice that Bernie is dead. Among the guests, Jonathan sees his crush, the intern Gwen Saunders (Catherine Mary Stewart), and flirts with her. What will Larry and Jonathan do next?

"Weekend at Bernie's" is a silly but funny black comedy. The joke is always the same, the film is stupid but most of the situations are gross and hilarious and in the end the viewer will certainly laugh a lot. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Um Morto Muito Louco" ("A Very Crazy Dead")