Highly Overrated But Still Good

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Best movie probably ever of all time. Genius writing combined with top of the line acting creates an cinematic experience irresistible to the audience. The perfect blend of comedy and romance will have you clenching your gut laughing one second and then reaching for the tissues to wipe your tears the next. An all time classic, truly a masterpiece.

Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Terry Kiser, Catherine Mary Stewart and Don Calfa star in this 1989 comedy. Richard Parker (Silverman) and Larry Wilson (McCarthy) are 2 New York guys who discover false policies written for the insurance company they work for. They inform their boss, Bernie Lomax (Kiser) and he rewards them by inviting them to his island beach house for Labor Day weekend. It turns out Bernie is the one stealing from the company and decides to have them killed. Bernie is killed instead before Richard and Larry arrive. They soon discover that Bernie is dead, but try making him look alive where he's still the life of the party. Stewart (The Last Starfighter) plays Gwen, Richard's co-worker & love interest, Calfa (Return of the Living Dead) plays Paulie, a mob thug sent to kill Bernie and the film's director, Ted Kotcheff (First Blood) also makes an appearance as Richard's father. This is a good 80's comedy with a good cast & score I recommend.

Time has the knack of breathing fresh new life into a former piece of crap. Nostalgia sets in with the fashions and the music of its era, and familiar faces re-appear after we have seen their careers gradually collapse. Unfortunately for Ted Kotcheff's Weekend at Bernie's, it is the same cringe-inducing, one-joke farce it was 24 years ago. There was a real chance for some dark comedy here, given that the set up isn't a bad idea if you have the correct writers behind it. However, Norman Mailer did not write Weekend at Bernie's, Robert Klane did, and he was responsible for such classics as National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Folks! (1992), and, most unforgivably, Weekend at Bernie's II (1993).Larry (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard (Jonathan Silverman) are two young, eager lower-level employees at a New York insurance firm. When Richard discovers that an employee has stolen 2 million dollars from the company, he and Larry think they're on their way to a promotion and take the findings to their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser). As a reward, Bernie invites them to stay at his island beach-house, but secretly, Bernie is behind the theft and has hired a mob hit-man to take them both out. However, Bernie himself is assassinated for sleeping with the mob boss' wife, and with party-seeking friends quickly turning up at the beach- house, Larry and Richard must maintain the illusion that Bernie is still alive and well if they want to party.It seems strange that their has never been (to my mind) a decent comedy involving a dead body. Perhaps the presence of a cadaver is too macabre a subject to raise any laughs, or, as with Weekend at Bernie's, there's not much you can do with it apart from move its limbs and head in an attempt to squeeze out some laughs. And that pretty much sums up this film, raising the question of how moronic can these people be to not realise Bernie is dead? Perhaps it's because, inexplicably, rigor mortis fails to set in at any point and his bowels do not drop. This may even be forgiven if we had anyone to root for, but, as hard as McCarthy and Silverman try, their characters are nothing more than incompetent goofballs chasing that ever-so-80's dream of climbing the corporate ladder. 100 minutes of pure pain.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

What ever happened to comedies like these? I have loved this movie since childhood. The brilliant Andy Summers' (Guitarist of The Police)score sets the tone of the silly comedic situations that occur within the beautiful atmosphere of the Carolinian island where the film was shot. Two young NYC guys who have been forced to work weekends at their insurance company job with no end in sight until they uncover a major finding at the firm. Their boss invites them to a spend Labor Day weekend in the party-going atmosphere of "Hampton Island" to reward their efforts. The pair are exposed to the high end lifestyle of bikini clad women, golf carts, and speed boats for the first time in their lives as they find their host/boss dead of an apparent drug overdose. The party atmosphere, in addition to other drama, takes over before they can properly alert authorities.As silly as this comedy is, it is still well written and acted. The decor and wardrobe will bring you back to a carefree late 80's era. Picturesque beach scenery mixed with amazing weather will make you want to visit Bernie's weekend getaway community. I highly recommend this movie.