Bernie

In the small Texas town of Carthage, Bernie Tiede is a mortician whose kindness and willingness to help have made him one of the community's most popular figures. He befriends Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow whose fortune is matched only by her unpleasant reputation. The two become close companions, but as Marjorie grows increasingly demanding of his time, Bernie finds himself unable to break away, and the relationship ends with her death. He then goes to considerable effort to conceal what happened and keep up the appearance that she is still alive, while a district attorney pursues the case.

Richard Linklater directed and wrote the screenplay with Skip Hollandsworth. It is the twelfth of the twenty-two films he has directed in chronological order, following Fast Food Nation and preceding Before Midnight. Jack Black plays Bernie, with Shirley MacLaine as Marjorie and Matthew McConaughey as Danny Buck Davidson, supported by a large credited cast of 149. Produced by Ginger Sledge, Martin Shafer and Matt Williams for several companies including Castle Rock Entertainment and Detour Filmproduction, it was made for about 5 million dollars and took roughly twice that worldwide.

On IMDb, the film holds a rating of 6.8 from around 67,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.6 from just over a thousand votes. A critics' rating of 7.5 from 168 reviews places it above both audience scores.