Grade: A

Is murder ever justifiable? Should a man be condemned for his entire life because of one bad moment? These don’t sound like questions a comedy would normally tackle, but Bernie is a question of moral ambiguity disguised as a screwball, black comedy. The movie is based on a true story, for whatever that’s worth anymore, and because of that it doesn’t pretend to have any definitive answers. We know a murder took place and who committed the act, but we don’t know for sure what the motivations were or what the relationship between the murderer and the murderee was. This forces us to tackle these questions with our own logic, our own morality and our own experiences.

The title role is played by Jack Black in one of his most restrained performances. Gone are all the boisterous and obnoxious qualities that have made him famous, and instead we get an effeminate, awkward man who seems to spread good will wherever he goes. He is a mortician who caters to every need and whim of both the deceased and the bereaved. The town of Carthage, Texas adores him for his kind spirit. Most seem to either think he’s gay or asexual, though some seem to have quiet theories about what he does with the old widows that he comforts.

Enter Marjorie Nugent (Shirley Maclaine), a recent widow whose wealth is only outdone by her malice. Bernie befriends her, much the same way he does all the women, and starts enjoying the perks of being a rich, lonely woman’s friend. They go on exotic vacations together, staying in first class hotels, he learns to fly a private airplane and spends a great deal of his time and her money up in the air. He finally even obtains power of attorney so he can spend her money at his leisure. Then he kills her and hides her body for nine weeks, only being discovered when her granddaughter leads the police in a search of her home when Bernie isn’t around, in an icebox.

This seems mostly cut and dry, and to the town sheriff (Matthew McConaughey) it is. A gold-digger gained the trust of a rich old widow, gained power of attorney, then killed her and enjoyed her wealth all to himself. Except the movie gives us enough evidence that it might not be that simple. Bernie might’ve been a genuinely good guy who snapped after being harassed by a mean old woman for far too long. The town refuses to believe he’s capable of such a thing, and even if he did do it, which he did, he admits it freely once caught, he should be forgiven because of all the good he did for the community.

Black and Maclaine bring humanity to what could have been stock characters. If we don’t know who exactly Bernie is, then that’s okay, because this is the kind of movie that could inspire passionate debates over several rounds of beers.

I’ve talked about three of the characters in the movie but I’ve failed to mention the fourth and maybe the most important one: The city of Carthage. The structure of the movie moves through a compilation of interviews with the citizens of the small town. They are eerily realistic and though they employ all the clichés of typical southern small town people as seen by Hollywood, they come off as real viable human beings. They’re probably the best part of the movie, at once hilarious and a bit terrifying. Their faith in Bernie goes beyond any possible atrocity he may have committed because he’s one of them and they’ve seen the good he’s capable of.

The last thing I want to point out is that this movie is in fact a comedy, and it succeeds there too. So forget all that shit about moral dilemmas and conundrums and whatever other pretentious things I said, and just know that it’s pretty goddamned hilarious.