BernieMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 75 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 OK for kids 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    You should have the opportunity to experience the movie the way I did, in complete ignorance, enjoying its every weird turn. Read full review

  • 88
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    Weirdly funny, inspiring film. Read full review

  • 85
    NPR | Jeannette Catsoulis

    The wonder of Black's performance here is its empathy and balance: inasmuch as he can disappear into any role, he dissolves into this one with no hint of mocking remove. It's a beautiful thing to see. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    No use trying to describe Bernie. It's a one-of-a-kind inspiration. You will never feel closer to a convicted killer. Read full review

  • 70
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    Where the movie is at its best is in the comically laconic, straight-to-the-camera remarks offered by Carthage's residents. (They're played by a mix of local actors and real townspeople doing partially scripted versions of themselves.) Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    Black gets to play an actual character instead of a loudmouthed cartoon. The movie's bright and endearing and surprisingly lacking in a point. I wish I liked it better. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy

    More than the film that surrounds him, Jack Black is worth the price of admission in Bernie, an oddball May-December true life crime story that would have profited from being a whole lot darker and full-bodied than it is. Read full review

  • 60
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    Jack Black adds new depths to his slippery comic persona in Bernie, a movie that may not ultimately add up to much, but which is filled with wonderfully odd details of weird Americana. Read full review

  • 60
    Movieline | Stephanie Zacharek

    It was a stroke of genius, at least a miniature one, to cast Black in this role – he's made to play the affable teddy bear who could snap at any moment. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Adam Markovitz

    All those twangy, homespun observations interrupt and annotate the narrative until Black and MacLaine's scenes start to feel as trivial as reenactments on a true-crime TV show. Read full review

View more reviews for Bernie on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 14+ Jack Black stars in dark fact-based murder comedy.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Bernie is an eccentric, entertaining, and sometimes disturbing dark comedy based on the real-life murder of wealthy Texas widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). Jack Black stars, but this isn't one of his mainstream comedies; Bernie's story is told with a mix of seriousness and levity, a tone that may be hard for tweens and under to process, given that it all actually happened. There's a bit of swearing (including very infrequent uses of words like "s--t" and "f--k") and scenes of cruelty (emotional, with one character needling and bullying another).
  • Families can talk about the movie's message. What's the takeaway? Is there meant to be one?
  • Can you believe that this story is actually based on real-life events? How accurate do you think it is? Why might filmmakers stretch or change the facts?
  • What makes Bernie a sympathetic character -- both to the people in his town and to audiences?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Bernie is about a man who kills an elderly woman and stuffs her in a freezer and yet is still beloved by many in his hometown -- an iffy message at best. It's possible to draw the conclusion that it pays to be kind and neighborly so that you'll have others' support when you make mistakes. But Bernie still has to take responsibility for his crime.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Bernie is helpful and supportive of many people in his town ... until he's not. And when he does lose patience, he does so in a catastrophically shocking way.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: The movie revolves around a murder. Guns are fired, and a woman is shot from behind with a rifle (it's shocking rather than grisly). Earlier, she's shown berating, insulting, and generally emotionally abusing those around her. Since Bernie is a funeral director, there are some scenes where he's shown working on a corpse.
  • sex false1 Sexy stuff: Innuendoes abound, but no there's no action.
  • language false3 Language: Language includes infrequent uses of everying from "f--k" and "s--t" (used about once each) to "ass," "hell" and "goddamn."
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: One character has lots of money, and she uses it to buy cars and clothes and go on vacations. There's some talk of how she may have felt entitled to be nasty because of the distance money afforded her.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some social drinking.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Exclusive Features

Cast Interview Exclusive Cast Interview Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine talk about corresponding with the real-life Bernie and... what's this about Jack doing a dance for Shirley one night?