Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

felixtherat This movie has a weird effect on your perception of time. Everything happens 10 seconds after you already know it's going to happen - but then is not quite as funny as you imagined it.Apparently written/directed/edited by people who've never done comedy before, unless was simply a pacing problem due to lack of script - like a half hour episode that was padded out to be much longer. Every shot seems to have the pre- and post-roll frames kept in, like they didn't have any choice in editing due to a lack of material.The two leads are untrained, unseasoned and unbearable, and the writer doesn't seem to have been allowed time to finish or given a script editor. Style doesn't even redeem itself for its age, as there are plenty of contemporaneous black comedies/dumb comedies from its period that are paced and have enough jokes to fill a movie - you know, comedy movies written by experienced comedy writers, performed by skilled comedy players - those guys you have to pay fees to.A quick note on the baffling following this movie has - what's intolerable is not that some say they enjoyed it (each to their own, I've no problem with that), it's the hyperbole people use, praising it to the extent they give the impression they believe the memorability of the film was deliberate, as if the movie makers might count themselves amongst those who find the movie funny. Seriously, this movie paid mortgages, guys, it didn't make people proud (or laugh). The 2 leads barely worked again, and neither did the writer. Why? Because they suck. Obviously. Get a grip!Bottom line - were you stoned (or 10) when you watched this? Then try watching it again - especially before coming here and telling people it's good.I've laughed more at a funeral. Seriously. I'd tell a court that under oath.

FlashCallahan Richard and Larry are two best friends who discover that someone has been embezzling money from their company.When they inform their boss, Bernie Lomax, he is so apparently pleased that he invites then to his beach house for a weekend of fun and leisure and women.But once they arrive, they discover him dead! Richard wants to do the right thing and inform the authorities as quickly as possible, but Larry is determined to still try and have a weekend of fun and leisure and women.....First things first, if you don't like the sound of two men walking around with a dead body, making it do admittedly stupid, but very funny things, steer well clear.But if you can swallow your pride, and admit to the fact that you really want to see this, or have seen it just for the fact, that whenever the titular character falls, or gets 'hurt' in any way, it's a funny movie from start to finish.A farce on many levels, the film works because it's just so bright and sparky.The two leads are great, Silverman playing the straight guy, McCarthey playing the party animal, but both characters are very likable.It's just one of those movies that puts a big grin on your face, forgettable the minute its over, but still a lot of fun.

Steve Pulaski Weekend at Bernie's is easily one of the most underrated and truly funny comedies of the eighties. It has a sort of cult level to it, but nothing respectable like some eighties films. It's unsung, much like License to Drive. It managed to spawn a sequel four years later and sort of has its own dark side equipped with certain levels of humor. It's hard to explain.Before I get into the plot and the positives, let's talk about one small thing; some points in this film are hard to believe. Some scenes where the boys desperately struggle to pass Bernie off as alive is definitely fake. It is hard to work with a plot where you have to pretend a character is alert and active very smoothly. McCarthy and Silverman do only a fair job as they try to work with the script they were handed trying to make a dead guy seem living.Sometimes, it is just not believably that guy is alive. When Larry is "playing" Monopoly with the corpse, maybe at a distance Bernie can seem alive and well. But when his wife goes to have sex with him, it is hard to believe Bernie has an active sex life when he is dead. Certain points were not executed as well as they could've been. But it was good and not a total letdown.The plot: Two time insurance clerks named Richard and Larry (McCarthy and Silverman) find a flaw in the companies' receipts suggesting someone could be stealing money from the company. They report the problem to their boss Bernie Lomax (Kiser) in hopes to acquire a certain reward for their findings.Bernie says he wants them to come down to his Hampton Island beach house to spend the weekend to celebrate what they did for the company. Richard and Larry don't know that Bernie plans to have them both killed. Bernie, ironically, is then killed by one of his buddies named Paulie who then shoved heroin in his pocket to make it look like an accidental overdose. Upon Richard and Larry's arrival they find the dead Bernie and contemplate what to do with him.They decide on pretending he is alive so they do not need to spend a weekend answering questions they don't know at the police station. Incredibly self indulgent, but understandable to a degree. Not like they killed him.The comedy is slapstick, but people do not understand that slapstick can be done well. All you need is a serious situation, done right. Nobody wants to watch a comedy where the characters are having a good time. Like Grown Ups. If you watch a comedy where the characters are trying to have be serious, but nothing but comical things come in their path, then that is funny. Black Sheep and Death at a Funeral are prime examples of good slapstick movies.What also helps any slapstick formula are two people that work well together. Most likely, you'd get a serious guy and a silly guy. Andrew McCarthy and Johnathan Silverman are a good duo and sort of remind me of a pre-Chris Farley and David Spade relationship. Not as funny, but a little reminiscent.Weekend at Bernie's is by no means an awful film. There are certainly worse comedies that don't even make me smile and are more like watching a bad home movie. The eighties ruled in the comedy genre. While Weekend at Bernie's is still waiting to have a blowup in popularity, it is sort of full of life in its own right.Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Johnathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser. Directed by: Ted Kotcheff.

Martin Onassis Both McCarthy and Silverman were brat-packer b-s who never quite made it all the way. Both may be competent as a sensitive co-stars in a drama, but neither one of these guys cuts it in a comedy. The dead guy, played by Terry Kiser, never made me laugh once, although he does play dead very well, and seeing him dragged around did make me laugh. I just hated it when he started dancing - wow, was that terrible.For some reason Barry Bostwick isn't on the cast list at IMDb and he's the biggest star by far in the movie, and its only redeeming aspect other than the high production values in gorgeous Caribbean locations, plus a stunning female co-star who thankfully compliments an ethnically diverse supporting cast.I think it's incredible that a movie with such a tasteless premise got made, and says much about the wide-open blinding wealth of 80s Hollywood. Movies should be about realizing the preposterous, but ultimately, the boring lead actors and a seriously middle-school-intellect level script ultimately make this period piece from the now-worshiped 80s still nearly as bad a movie as it was when it came out.