Bernie (2012)

Finally, nearly half-way through the year, here is a movie actually worth your time. Directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock), it tells the real-life story of Bernie Tiede (Jack Black), a homosexual assistant funeral director, avid church gospel singer, and companion to a Marjorie Nugent (Shirely MacLaine). Bernie is the nicest person anyone who meets him has ever met, but he is pushed too far by the nagging and demanding Miss Nugent. The movie was made partly in a documentary style, with the people of the town talking about the goings-on as if being interviewed. These bits are both revealing and distracting, cutting into the actual movie every time they appear and serving little purpose. They are my only complaint about an otherwise great movie, which has been made so mostly by the performance of Black. Yes, Jack Black. That Jack Black.

In the past couple of decades, critics and award shows have shown great favoritism towards big actors and actresses who play gay characters. Usually these people don't do as good a job acting as the authors did writing, but they are given big buckets of praise anyway. I'm sure this occurs because, by default, those types of movies must be praised to be politically correct, no matter how uncomfortable they make some viewers. Bernie is about a gay man, but is not a gay movie; there is no big message and no defensive wailing. Jack Black's performance is incredible not because he plays a gay man, but because he does it with such precision. I have never seen such an amazing turn-around in an actor before. So often we take performers for granted because they so often tie themselves down to similar roles and styles. Black has done this for so many years with his idiotic comedy that I have come to avoid him. I now respect him. He here proves that he has enormous talent and it would be impossible to see this movie and take him for granted, because he is the movie. In every scene, our eyes are drawn to him, at first in shock, then to see what he'll do next, and finally to find out what happens to him after we have become convinced that this is the real deal. Black adopts a flawless Texan accent and stereotypical gay mannerisms, but in a way that isn't exaggerated, and he never drops his guard. The "little" moments in the performance are just as great as the "big" ones, because they make Bernie really real.

I can't imagine what this movie would be like without Black, although the word boring comes to mind. As much as Linklater tries to make the movie interesting on its own merits, it only thrives because of the title character. Even though this is meant to be a comedy and there are brief circumstantial moments that inspire chuckles, the most impressive feat is casting Jack Black as this particular character and having him play it with a serious, almost scary, conviction. I keep carrying on about Black, but he is the reason this movie is great and it feels good to see something that I can so wholeheartedly praise. If he is overlooked come award season, there is something seriously wrong in Hollywood.

9/10