Short Cut Review: Bernie

A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.

Bernie has a lot of fans behind it. People really seem to love it. Not me. It's an amusing satire, or black comedy, or however you want to classify it. It's such a bizarre story that if it weren't based on fact, I wouldn't believe it. Bernie, the Texas funeral home director who befriends a cranky old woman and becomes her full time assistant/benefactor before murdering her in a fit of frustration, is surely one of the year's great cinematic characters. Jack Black got a lot of buzz for his performance. Just because he plays against type doesn't necessarily mean he's acting great. All in all, it's a cinematic trifle, a mild diversion that moves a little too slowly at times and never adds up to the revelatory experience I awaited.