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What kind of a host invites you to his house for the weekend and dies on you?
Despite its status as a benchmark of late 80s pop culture, the film Weekend at Bernie's sounds like it should never have been greenlit. Two lowly young insurance employees find their boss dead of an apparent overdose at his beach house--and pretend he is still alive. The mafia boss who ordered Bernie's death sends the enforcer back to kill him again and again, and there's a love interest who has to be kept in the dark. Many shenanigans ensue. The storytelling is bonkers, the biology is suspect, and although the physical comedy is top-notch, the humor is remarkably juvenile.
Honestly, Weekend at Bernie's shouldn't work. But this stupid comedy is not only genuinely funny, but it gave us a pop culture shorthand we're still using nearly 40 years later. This is partially thanks to the chemistry and amazing physicality of the three lead actors who sold us on the idea that Bernie's death was a funny situation rather than a mental health nightmare. The film is still a pop culture product of its time, including the misogyny and homophobia that was par for the course in the 1980s, but it still offers more laughs than you'd expect from a one-joke movie.
Throw on your headphones and sunglasses, relax in a sun lounger, and take a listen! Just make sure you move every once in a while.
Mentioned in this episode:
Roger Ebert’s review of Weekend at Bernie’s
This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.
Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Like the whole the point of the movie, like the
reason why nobody notices he'sdead, is he's the life of the
party.
Everyone in Hampton Island knowsBernie.
Everybody loves Bernie, and it'sbecause they don't actually know
him.
SPEAKER_00 (00:11):
Have you ever had something you love dismissed?
Because it's just pop culture?
What others might deem stupidshit, you know matters.
You know it's worth talking andthinking about.
And so do we.
So come overthink with us as wedelve into our deep thoughts
about stupid shit.
SPEAKER_01 (00:31):
I'm Emily Guy Birkin, and you're listening to
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit.
Because pop culture is stillculture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
On today's episode, I'll besharing my deep thoughts about
the 1989 film Weekend atBernie's with my sister, Tracy
Guy Decker.
And with you.
Let's dive in.
So, Trace, I know you've seenthis film.
(00:53):
It's just Yeah.
I think it was like standardissue 80s childhood.
We you were required to watchit.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
Yeah, it feels like it was just sort of osmosis.
SPEAKER_01 (01:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So tell me what's in your headabout the weekend at Bernie's.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
Yeah, so my recollection is these two dudes
are like somehow get invited totheir bosses, or I don't know
what their relationship is withthe dude, with the older rich
dude, but his like beach house,and they go and the mob kills
him.
They kill Bernie.
And for some reason, the twoguys decide to pretend he's
(01:28):
still alive.
And so they like rig up allthese things to move his body to
make it look like he's alive.
And then the mobsters are like,How is that dude still alive?
So, like Bernie gets killedrepeatedly, is my recollection.
And I remember laughing a lot,which when I describe it, it
doesn't sound funny, but I Iremember it being very funny.
(01:50):
So that's what's in my headabout it.
But why are we talking about ittoday?
SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
I can't remember how we ended up putting it on the
list, but I do know that I wasthinking about it recently
because I used a gif from thisfilm.
If you can recall a few weeksago, the president wasn't seen
for like five days in a row.
And this is a man who does notlike to be away from the camera.
(02:14):
And then he said he was going tohave a big press conference at 2
p.m.
And then it didn't happen, andit didn't happen.
It was like 45 minutes late, andthen it was like an hour late.
And so I on social media posteda gif of the two characters with
their dead boss like runningtogether and posted how much you
(02:34):
want to bet the press conferenceis delayed to give Vance and
Rubio more time to practicethis.
Um because the I see.
So this why we're doing it now.
Because there were somesuggestions that there was a
weekend at Bernie situationgoing on.
And that's kind of where thissits.
(02:56):
I feel like in our culturalconsciousness, this you say
weekend at Bernie's and it meanssomething.
Like we know what that is.
You pretend that someone isstill alive who is dead, and you
manipulate things based on that.
And so if you'll recall, there'sthat episode of Star Trek The
(03:17):
Next Generation where theyencounter the species that
speaks entirely in metaphors,like Shaka when the walls fell.
SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
Yep.
Shaka when the walls fell.
SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
And so I feel like weekend at Bernie's is part of a
mare.
It's like Shaka when the wallsfell.
Our meme.
That's our metaphor.
So I haven't seen it in it'sgotta be 35 years.
Yeah, same.
(03:46):
So I was like, all right, let'ssee what is this.
Like, is there anything more tothis than the concept?
The answer is no.
Right.
So this is gonna be a shortepisode, that's what you're
telling me.
But the fact that it has hascaptured our attention and the
(04:08):
fact that like it came out what36 years ago?
I mean, it came out in 1989.
We're still talking about it.
And like and it's become ashorthand for something is
meaningful.
So I I think that's worthdiscussing.
So I'm gonna give you like justa few postcards from our the
(04:30):
destination, like we tell liketo say.
Something that I have thoughtmultiple times because the actor
who plays Bernie, his name isTerry Kaiser, and he is a
working actor.
He's still alive.
He's in his 80s at this point,and he has had a long and
storied career, but I only haveever seen him as Bernie.
Like I've never that I know of.
(04:52):
And I was looking at his careerhighlights, and I have only ever
seen him as Bernie.
Oh, you don't recognize theother one?
So he's done a lot in theaterand he's done a lot of like
television work and things likethat.
So he's basically he's a workingactor.
Uh-huh.
And uh so one of the things thatI did not recognize watching
(05:14):
this as a kid was the amount ofwork he does as a dead body and
how difficult that was.
And so, like, it just anappreciation for that.
And then also like the even in amovie this silly, there's some
(05:34):
really tidy writing throughout.
So there's still some things toreally appreciate.
So let me give you just somelike a relatively brief
synopsis, and it will be briefbecause there's not much to this
story.
There's a lot of shenanigans.
A lot of shenanigans that ensue.
So we meet Jonathan Silverman,who plays Richard, and his
(05:59):
friend Larry, played by AndrewMcCarthy.
We he's friend of the show,Andrew McCarthy.
He was Jonathan in Mannequin.
And so they are both, they workat an insurance company in New
York City.
It is late summer, it is hot ashell, and they are going into
work on a Sunday.
(06:20):
And because Richard is like ago-getter, wants to get ahead.
Like he really wants to like goforward in his career.
Larry's just kind of long forthe ride.
He's a lovable amoral slob.
So while they're at work on theSunday, Richard discovers, and
(06:40):
it's really it shows you justhow old this film is.
They're looking at printoutsfrom dot matrix printers.
unknown (06:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:50):
Oh wow.
I haven't thought about one ofthose in a while.
He discovers that theirinsurance company paid out$2
million for four differentinsurance policies for one man's
one man who died.
And it's not that he had fourdifferent insurance policies,
it's like he died four times.
(07:10):
So someone is trying to fleecethe company.
So it's fraud.
And so they're like, oh my God,we got to show Mr.
Lomax on Monday that someone'strying to defraud the company.
So they go in on Monday.
Larry encourages Richard to talkto Gwen, who is an intern at the
company.
She's heading back to collegesoon because it is the last week
(07:32):
of summer.
Coming up is Labor Day weekend.
And Larry pushes Richard to talkto her.
And Richard like just balks, andlike he goes to talk to her and
he goes, My aunt is very ill.
Because like he just can't thinkof what else to say.
And she's like, What?
(07:52):
That's a random thing to comeup.
Okay.
And so they go in to talk to Mr.
Lomax, who says, Please call meBernie.
At first, he gets angry at them.
He's like, some can have morethan one insurance policy.
And then Richard says, No, no,look at the back.
Some of these policies weretaken out after he died.
And then Lomax says, Oh mygoodness, wow, you guys, this is
(08:15):
great work.
We need to like comb throughthings, make sure we found
everything, but we have to keepit on the down low because we
don't know who did it.
Why don't you come to my beachhouse on Hampton Island this
weekend?
Take the six o'clock ferry onFriday.
You'll stay the weekend.
We'll figure it out.
We'll have a wonderful time.
And I'll give you a ride back tothe city on Monday.
Later that day, Richard and Gwensees Richard and says, I hope
(08:39):
your aunt feels better.
And he goes and talks to her andgets a date with her on Thursday
night.
We see Bernie going to talk toclearly a mob boss guy named
Vito, saying, You have to killthese two men because Bernie is
the one who embezzled the moneyand did the four fraudulent
insurance claims.
(08:59):
At that meal, it's Vito and Vitosaying, like, well, I don't kill
people anymore.
Polly is the actual whackerenforcement guy.
And he's like, I'm a littlerusty, but I think I can do it.
Then there's I don't know theVito's right-hand man, and then
Tina, Vito's girlfriend.
(09:21):
Tina is under the table, likeputting her foot in Larry's,
excuse me, in Bernie's lap.
So there's something going onbetween Tina and Bernie.
And so Bernie says, look, we'llmake it look like a murder
suicide, and we'll pin the blamefor the$2 million fraud on these
two guys.
So bring my house on the island,pin the blame on them.
(09:43):
I'll leave a note, take care ofit.
And Polly says, Well, I'm alittle rusty, but I can do it.
And so Bernie gets up andleaves.
And then Tina immediately says,I'm gonna go powder my nose, and
she leaves.
Vito goes to his right hand manand says, Go after them.
And so the right hand man seesBernie and Tina set up a time
for her to come see him Fridaynight at the apartment in
(10:06):
Manhattan because he doesn'tplan to stay on the island.
And then Vito tells Polly, Don'tworry about these two guys, kill
Bernie because he's gettingsloppy and he's he's sleeping
with Tina.
So we see the date between Gwenand Richard.
It's going well.
He takes her to a place calledJaime's Hunan, which is sweet
(10:28):
and sour matzaballs.
That's funny.
That's very funny.
Yeah.
And she we've uh previouslylearned that Richard still lives
with his parents while Larry hasan apartment to himself, but
it's tiny and cockroach-filled.
And so Gwen is like they'relike, let's go someplace where
(10:49):
we can talk.
And Gwen's like, Well, I'dinvite you to my place, but I
have five roommates.
And she's like, I it was eitherthat or live with my parents,
and that just didn't seem like agood idea.
And so Richard lies.
So he doesn't want to admit helives with his parents.
So Richard lies and takes herback to his place, but it's his
parents' place.
And their date isn't interruptedby because his parents are
(11:10):
asleep.
Date is interrupted, uh, and helies and says his parents are
dead.
And oh yeah.
And his dad wakes up and comesthrough in his underwear to get
a drink from the kitchen.
And so she finds out and sheleaves in a huff.
unknown (11:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:26):
So the next day is Friday, Richard and Larry
heading to the island.
We see Bernie arrive there onhis own private boat.
He gets to his house and heyells at two different
maintenance workers who he hadhired.
One is a guy he'd hired andfired who's hanging out there
saying, like, I want my 90bucks.
And he's like, I fired you,you're not getting it.
(11:47):
And like he kicks him.
And then another guy who's liketaking care of the plants in the
house, who's a little nicer too,but is also kind of rude to.
SPEAKER_00 (11:54):
Is that to make sure we don't have too much sympathy
for him?
Partially.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
It also comes in later.
SPEAKER_00 (11:59):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
And then Paulie calls from payphone on the
island saying, like, hey, I'mhere on the island.
And Bernie's like, You're early.
Those guys aren't getting hereuntil the six o'clock ferry.
And Polly's like, just remind mewhere your house is again.
And Bernie accidentally ends uprecording it on his answering
machine.
Answering machine.
He's like, Well, you know, we'llmake sure you kill these two
(12:20):
schmucks.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave thenote here and all of that,
basically outlining the entireplan.
Pauly shows up, and so we seeBernie type up the note and put
it in his briefcase.
Polly shows up and he kills himwith an overdose of heroin.
So, which gives Bernie a kind ofa like a grin.
(12:40):
Like a beatific kind of a look.
And Polly leaves Bernie with apair of sunglasses on his eyes.
Uh-huh.
So Richard and Larry show up,the house is empty, and they
just let themselves in.
A woman comes by in a bikini andsays, Hey, tell Bernie I'm
taking the keys to his boat.
And they're like, Oh, okay,well, we're his house guests.
(13:02):
And she's like, Oh, yeah, theparty just kind of roams around.
It always ends up here though.
So it's like kind of made clearthat things are very loose on
the island.
Uh-huh.
So they find Bernie.
They think he's drunk.
And so like they they like pickhim up and take, like, kind of
walk him to the um, because he'suh in like an office area.
(13:24):
They walk him to the living roomand they start trying to make
coffee for him, which is whenRichard realizes he's dead.
Like he he falls over, and Pollyhad planted the syringe that he
used to inject him and then abaggie of the heroin in his
pocket and that falls out.
And Richard finds that, and thenhe's he like puts his sunglasses
under his nose and realizes no,this man's dead.
(13:46):
And they're freaking out.
And Richard starts to call 911when the roving party arrives,
and there's so much going on.
And like the first person whocomes in is completely drunk and
sits down and is talking toBernie and doesn't realize he's
dead.
And Larry quickly realizes,like, oh, we could still have
(14:06):
our fun weekend, and is like,what if we just pretend he's
still alive and have our funweekend?
And Richard's like, No, we'renot gonna do that until he sees
that Gwen is here on the island.
He thought he wasn't gonna seeher again.
And it turns out she's here onthis island too.
He's like, All right, give me 20minutes.
And so he ends up going to talkto her.
She asks him, How's your aunt?
(14:26):
And he goes, Oh, she died.
And she tries to go in.
She's like, Oh, I want to,there's Mr.
Lomax.
I want to go thank him for theinternship.
And he tries to stop her andisn't able to.
And she's trying to get inthrough to the party, and all
these drunk men are stopping herand saying the most vile things
like, Oh, that outfit is whatyou're wearing, is so beautiful.
(14:48):
It would look even better,crumpled on my floor.
Like that kind of awful shit.
And yeah, and she's supposed tobe like a college student.
So, ugh.
So she ends up leaving and iswalking on the beach because
she's like, I'm out of thisshit.
And uh, Larry and Richard havemoved Bernie and like dumped him
(15:09):
onto the sand to keep her fromgoing to try to talk to him.
So Richard then sees her walkingon the beach.
He goes to go talk to her.
They are having a kind of a niceromantic date.
They go up to a lighthouse, heends up falling down the stairs.
It's shenanigans.
But he tells her, I've had acrush on you since the first day
(15:29):
you showed up, and they'rekissing on the beach when the
high tide has taken Bernie'sbody and now it's washing up
next to them where they'rekissing.
Yeah.
And so she doesn't see what hedoes.
He's like, Oh my God, I can'tbelieve this is happening to me.
She's like, It's happening toboth of us.
And he's like, No, you deservecandles and flowers and
everything.
Let's go, and is like hustlingher back.
(15:50):
And so he gets Larry and theybring the body back to the house
and put it in his bedroom.
That's when Tina shows upbecause the party has left at
that point.
Uh-huh.
Because she had thought he wasgoing to be in Manhattan, and
now she's like, Yeah, he's like,he's cheating on me, which is
(16:10):
like she's somebody else's girl.
Anyway.
And so they're like, Well, nowthe screaming starts because
she's gonna find that he's dead,and he's she's in there for like
20 minutes, and she comes downlike humming and like pleased
with herself, and like, how dideverything go?
And she's like, It's better thanever.
Like, and at this point, she hadsex with a dead body, and Vito's
(16:36):
right-hand man has beenfollowing and watching, and
there's like huge windows, andso he could see what was going
on.
And so the right-hand man'scalling Vito is like, I don't
know, like Polly might have beenmore rusty than we thought.
Bernie's still alive, she sleptwith him.
So they send Polly back to killhim again.
(16:56):
Yeah.
So Richard at this point isoverwhelmed and exhausted.
He's like, I'm just gonna, I'mjust gonna lie down for a little
bit.
Wake me up in the morning, we'lldeal with it in the morning,
we'll call the cops.
So the next morning, Larry hasset Bernie up on the porch with
a Monopoly game, and he's gotfishing line on Bernie's arm.
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
On his arm.
I remember that.
SPEAKER_01 (17:20):
So he wave.
Uh-huh.
So Richard like wakes up, isfreaking out because he slept
until 11:30 in the morning.
Shenanigans ensue.
They end up hearing theanswering machine message and
realize, like, oh my God, he wasgonna kill us.
(17:40):
They find the note because thatwas in the answering machine,
they find the note.
And the notes was that writtenfrom Larry that they had
embezzled the money to pay forLarry's sex change operation,
but then Richard had fallen inlove with someone else, and so
now Larry was going to killRichard and then himself.
(18:02):
Oh my god.
Burn.
Yeah.
And then Larry's like, why hasit got to be me who's having the
sex change operation?
And Richard's like, nobody'sactually having one.
And Larry's like, oh yeah.
And so at this point, they'relike, okay, we gotta keep
(18:27):
pretending that Bernie's alive,because part of what was saying
is like, don't kill them whileI'm here, because I need an
alibi.
SPEAKER_00 (18:34):
Right, right.
So they think that they thinkthe hit is still out on them.
So that's what I remember wasthat they were in like afraid
for them themselves.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:44):
So Gwen at some point had come by and said,
like, I want to talk to Bernie.
And he's like, nope, Bernie'sdead.
And she's like, Oh, so like yourparents are dead and your aunt's
dead.
And at that point, Larry hadpushed Bernie off the edge of
the porch to like try to avoidhaving her talk to Bernie and
(19:05):
get shenanigans.
So they they grab Bernie and tryto get on the ferry.
They'd have no idea who's tryingto kill them, so they're
avoiding everyone.
They miss the fairy.
Meanwhile, Polly had strangledBernie after he'd been dropped
off the porch and is leaving.
(19:28):
And then as they're trying toget the ferry, like all three of
them, like in a like athree-legged race or whatever,
Polly sees them and is nowtrying to get off the ferry
metal on the island.
Because he thinks he's stillalive.
I don't understand why this isfunny.
(19:51):
And so they realize, oh wait,Bernie has his own boat.
We just need to go get the keysbecause the girl in the bikini
had borrowed it before.
So they go back to the house,and that's when the two workers
that we saw him be mean to earlycome back, and they don't know
who they are.
So Richard knocks them both out.
(20:12):
There's the one who is angrybecause he was fired, and the
other one who was taking care ofthe plants.
He knocks them both out and thenthey lock them in the pantry.
Oh my god.
I know.
They steal the boat, they tieBernie up to the back of it, and
neither of them have any ideahow to steer a boat, and
shenanigans ensue.
Bernie ends up falling off theback of the boat and is like
(20:34):
hitting dragged behind him.
So people think he's waterskiing, and then he's hitting
like um, I can't remember whatthose buoys, but they're like
metals.
SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
So ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
SPEAKER_01 (20:45):
Do you hear that?
What is that noise?
So then they run out of gas andthey have to, they have to, they
put lifelasts on all three ofthem, and they paddle back to
Hampton Island on Bernie.
And they, oh my god.
And then they get to the house,and Gwen sees them getting out
(21:09):
of the beach, and she comes tothe house, she's really angry at
Richard, and she's like, Youtell me that he's dead, and I
just saw you with him on thebeach.
Richard's like, I don't want tosound rude, but get the hell out
of here.
You're in danger.
That's when Polly shows up andputs like six bullets in Bernie,
and the three of them are like,We didn't see anything, we
(21:29):
didn't see anything.
And he three being the two men,Gwen.
Larry, Richard, and Gwen.
And so Polly's like his gun isempty.
He's like, Yeah, but this oneisn't.
So they're running around,shenanigans in Sue.
Larry says, Richard, take Gwenand hide.
I'll um pull him away from you.
And Richard says, Okay.
And Larry's like, You weren'teven gonna argue with me.
(21:53):
So for ridiculously, Richardsubdues Polly right by Bernie's
body, and Polly falls over, andBernie's arm grabs him.
So when the police come, Pollyis being hauled away in a
straitjacket, going, He's stillalive.
I didn't kill him, he's stillalive.
(22:15):
And Gwen has invited Richard toher house for a week.
He's gonna take a week off andspend some time with her.
And she's like, You should cometoo to Larry.
And behind her head, Richard'slike, So, and Larry's like, No,
I think I'm gonna stick arounduh Bernie's house.
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
Because we've already seen that he's
completely sorry, listeners.
Behind his head, Richard wasshaking his head no and doing
the cut, like cut cut your neck.
Yeah, sorry, the gesture.
Remember, it's an audio only.
Sorry, sorry.
I am a very smart person.
SPEAKER_01 (22:53):
And then they are they have loaded Bernie on a
stretcher, but um, he falls,like they haven't put the brakes
on, and so the body falls offthe stretcher and lands in the
sand behind Gwen, Richard, andLarry.
And someone sees him and goes,like, hey Bernie, and they turn
around and look behind him, anduh they like scream and run off,
(23:15):
and that's the end of the film.
I I don't like how did this filmget made?
SPEAKER_00 (23:27):
Well, it's become a cultural telephone as we say as
we started here.
So where do you want to start?
Uh okay, doesn't pass backdell.
So we have uh two named femalecharacters, but they never talk
to each other.
SPEAKER_01 (23:42):
Tina and Tina and we have Gwen.
Yeah, they never meet each otherand they never talk to each
other.
Yeah.
So it doesn't quite a bit ofobjectification of women because
there's a lot of women bikinisand just it's gross.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:58):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, and so and listeners as areminder, the Backdell test are
asks three questions.
Are there at least two namedfemale characters?
Do they talk to each other anddo they talk to each other about
something other than a man or aboy?
So this film passes the firstquestion, but not the second.
Yeah.
Okay.
There's also like that.
I mean, it's it it does advancethe plot, but there's some
(24:20):
pretty gross sexual harassmentof a college co-ed when Gwen is
hit on at the party.
And like Larry is no, sorry,Richard, who's who is the person
she actually ends up with, isdoesn't sound like he's actually
a catch.
Like he's better than the guyswho are like, that's a beautiful
outfit and it would look betteron my floor, but that's a pretty
low bar, y'all.
(24:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
He's lying left and right, and like, guys, not a
catch.
Yeah, he's supposed to be likethe sweet one, but like how?
Compared to what though?
Well, because Larry takesBernie's Rolex off his dead
body.
(25:04):
So ew.
Yeah.
And like, if they had pretendedthat Bernie were still alive
because they feared for theirlives from the jump from the
beginning, much more forgivable.
But they were doing it likeLarry was just doing it because
he wanted a weekend away.
(25:26):
He wanted a party.
And then Richard like wasabsolutely not.
We're calling the cops until hesaw that Gwen was there.
And then he's like, give me 20minutes.
SPEAKER_00 (25:38):
Yeah, that's fucked up.
And it's like a man is dead.
And they think it's from anoverdose.
Like they don't, they think it'san accidental death.
Yeah, that's messed up.
So what?
Gwen will still what?
So like that well, I mean, shegot the better of she got the
(25:58):
best man in this film.
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Not by much.
Those are not the only, andthey're not the only two options
in the world, Gwen.
Honestly.
Being alone is a better option.
Your five roommates were at homewashing their hair.
Gonna be a better option.
(26:24):
So like, and that that is onething that I think is really
okay.
So I there's this like slipperynature of morality in this film.
Because Richard is supposed tobe the more moral of the two of
them.
He's the one who's like, when wemeet him, he's waiting for Larry
to get to work.
And like, because it's he'slike, it's 10:30.
(26:45):
I said 10 o'clock.
And Larry's like, oh, I'm early.
I'm usually 45 minutes late.
Because they're going to work ona Sunday.
So like they're gone later thanthey normally would.
And so, and Richard's the onewho's like, all right, we're
gonna, we're gonna do this,we're gonna call the cops, we do
the right thing.
But like the minute it gets alittle bit hard, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_00 (27:08):
So, like or the I mean it's the crush, right?
The crush is the reason he likeit's so it's not even hard, it's
just like a different rewardsystem.
SPEAKER_01 (27:20):
So, like the minute his crush says, like, oh well,
it didn't seem like good, Idon't live with my parents, he's
like, Well, I would don't livewith my parents.
Right.
Either you live with integrityor you don't.
And so that like that slipperynature of of morality is grody.
It's really grody.
(27:41):
Especially like now, in thescene with the because he's
immediately punished by thestory for lying about his
parents.
Right.
So, like, okay, it could be youcould say, like, okay, it's
clear this is not how it'ssupposed to work.
You just be honest, just beyourself.
But the thing is, like, whenit's something even bigger, like
(28:04):
this is a man has died.
Right.
Stop.
Right.
And especially when she's madeit clear, because that was one
of the things that she says,like, she's impressed with the
apartment, and she's like, wow,this one's got cost a fortune,
and like I'm kind of impressedyou took me to Jaime's Hunan.
A lot of people would have triedto like impress me with like a
(28:28):
really expensive restaurant, andso like I don't like it when
people don't pretend to be otherthan who they are.
Oh so like there's this wholething in there, like, she
appreciates genuine people.
So why is he pretending?
SPEAKER_00 (28:47):
Yeah.
I mean, the name of the show isDeep Thought.
So, like, this is a movie aboutlike a dead dude, right?
So, are there like meditationsabout mortality in this movie?
No.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
It's just a slapstick company.
I mean, like, no, like theythere really isn't much.
Now, there is like there's alittle bit like the whole the
point of the movie, like thereason why nobody notices he's
dead, is he's the life of theparty.
Everyone in Hampton Island knowsBernie, everybody loves Bernie,
and it's because they don'tactually know him.
(29:37):
Like, he's just the host, he'sjust the house that everybody's
a cardboard.
He's a cardboard cutout.
Who's like and so when he turnsinto a cardboard cutout, nobody
notices.
Yeah.
So like there's a sense of andlike Richard and Larry, at one
point on that Monday, beforethey get a chance to s go in and
(29:58):
see him, they see him going tolunch.
Lunch in a really expensive carwith a beautiful woman to a very
expensive restaurant.
And they're like, man, that guyhas it all.
And so there is a little bit ofa like critique of that kind of
culture.
SPEAKER_00 (30:15):
That status.
So it's not actually aboutmortality, but it is maybe about
humans and status.
Is there's a commentary on that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:24):
A little bit on that these trappings mean nothing.
Because you don't even have tobe there for people to be like,
that was the best party you'veever thrown, Bernie.
Like they actually say that.
And he's he's not even there.
SPEAKER_00 (30:41):
So right.
Right.
And also there's something abouttoo about how quickly it can be
taken from someone.
Right?
Like he has everything.
That dude has everything.
And he thinks he's getting awaywith it.
And the his partner in crime islike, fuck that dude.
Yeah.
And then it's over.
SPEAKER_01 (31:00):
And like the he has everything.
Like, what's everything?
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
You know, like the every it's all stuff.
Yeah.
It's all well, the woman's notstuff, but actually she sort of
is.
SPEAKER_01 (31:11):
Well, because it's it's not Tina in the way that
it's Yeah.
The woman that he's taking tolunch is not Tina.
And it's not like it's adifferent woman is on his arm
every it it's she is a prize.
So shh, quote unquote.
But yeah, possession of sorts.
In in in the world of thestatus.
Yeah, it's it's very much thatlike kind of 1980s yuppie
(31:32):
culture.
But there's not really like soyou get a little bit of that
kind of meditation, but at thesame time, it's not really
critiqued because we don't seeRichard and Larry like learn
anything from it.
SPEAKER_00 (31:45):
Right.
I mean it's critiqued insofar asBernie pays the price for it.
But there's no insight about it.
SPEAKER_01 (31:52):
Yeah.
So like it's not as if Richard'slike, you know what?
Well, okay.
When Richard says he's taken aweek off and he's gonna go with
Gwen to her house, Larry says,you're actually taking time off.
You're taking a vacation.
I've never seen you take timeoff.
So there is that.
That's not much.
That's very little.
(32:14):
And it's also like that has beenhis MO throughout.
Like she's the thing that he'llchange his rules for.
SPEAKER_00 (32:21):
That's right.
That's right.
So actually, he does it's notnecessarily a change.
By that interpretation, it's nota change at all.
He's changed the way he talkedabout things repeatedly as a
result of things that Gwen hassaid or done, or opportunities
to see her or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So can we talk about this uhmurder suicide?
(32:43):
Oh my goodness.
That Bernie wrote, becausethat's kind of icky.
Bears some unpacking, maybe.
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
So yeah, like the homophobia and transphobia, like
just built into that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:56):
I also was in particular because it's written
to to shock and humiliate men.
SPEAKER_01 (33:02):
I also was thinking, like, how would that work?
Like Richard's parents.
How would what work?
Well, so after their bodies werefound and the note was found,
Richard's parents would be like,No.
Like, we don't know enough aboutLarry's life outside of work.
Because we don't see much of it.
(33:23):
But what we see of like Richardand his life outside of work, we
can be pretty sure that hisparents would be like, There's
no way he would embezzle money.
I know that he didn't have thatkind of relationship with Larry.
Like, no.
SPEAKER_00 (33:37):
Yes, and especially in 1989, a relationship like
that would have been so I mean,that was that's why Bernie would
have written the note because itwould have been so taboo that
even your closest friends mightnot know about it.
SPEAKER_01 (33:52):
Well, and that they'd want to cover it up
rather than investigate.
And it's played for laughs inthis film.
And I I had no memory of thatwhatsoever.
SPEAKER_00 (34:01):
No, I don't remember that either.
It's icky.
I mean, it's par for the coursefor 1980s, but yeah, it's one of
the examples of the ways thatjust like casual homophobia and
transphobia were just played forlaughs.
Yeah.
And just to be embarrassing andshocking and not actually have
(34:22):
any kind of sympathy or empathyfor the experiences of gay folks
or trans folks.
SPEAKER_01 (34:28):
And to have it be like the punchline being like no
one's actually getting a sexchange operation.
Oh yeah.
Be like the joke.
And I well, that's just kind ofweird.
SPEAKER_00 (34:41):
It's just it's so again, par for the course, for
the time.
Yeah, I mean, like the word thatkeeps coming to mind is
childish, but this whole film ischildish.
Yeah.
Like that's kind of what'sfunny.
SPEAKER_01 (34:53):
And it's the like I'm trying to think what someone
would say like these days, likeif this movie were made today.
The society note would just bedifferent.
I hope.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I do want to say the physicalcomedy is really impressive.
Especially Terry Kaiser and thenhis stunt uh doubles.
(35:18):
I don't know how they did whatthey did.
And then when the three leadswere working, like Terry Kaiser,
Jonathan Silverman, and AndrewMcCarthy were like working
together to do like the tryingto run together and stuff like
that.
It's like dancing.
It's like ballet.
Probably involved a lot ofchoreography and rehearsal.
SPEAKER_00 (35:38):
Did you find yourself laughing?
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
I did.
It was so weird because, like,why am I laughing at this?
Like, notably, Roger Ebert hatedthis film.
He gave it one star.
And he, yeah, he said basicallyit's a one-joke film, and it
tried to, it made the mistake ofthinking it could make an entire
(36:00):
film out of it.
And he's not wrong.
But for some reason, like partof it is like But for some
reason the joke was funny overand over again.
SPEAKER_00 (36:09):
With the different physical sorts of things.
SPEAKER_01 (36:10):
And I think it's because of how good the physical
comedy was, even though it isbiologically wrong.
SPEAKER_00 (36:19):
Doesn't rigor mortis set in eventually?
I mean, that's because that'swhat how she's able to have sex
with him, right?
Theoretically.
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
That's actually the only part that he found funny
because we it's not seen.
Uh it's the only part that RogerEbert found funny.
And it is kind of funny becauseAndrew McCarthy and Jonathan
Silverman are like, she's beenup there for a long time.
And then McCarthy's like, man,it gets laid more as a dead guy
than I do.
And then I was like, I getyelled at if I just lay there.
(36:53):
And he's like, and it's funnybecause like we don't actually
see anything.
And I was like, that's the part,like, I didn't I remember even
as a kid not finding that funnybecause I find it so disturbing
because there's a lack ofconsent there, and it's like
there's some really disturbing.
And there's some theconversation between McCarthy
(37:16):
and Silverman, it there's somefunny moments in there that I
laughed.
But the what's going on betweenTina and Bernie is not funny to
me at all.
Like I do not find that funny.
I find it really awful.
Yeah, I agree.
But like the the physical comedywith the dead body that's not
actually a dead body, when I'mnot like focused on the like,
(37:38):
that's not how dead bodies work,I couldn't help but chuckle on
multiple occasions, justbecause, like, that's actually
why I went down the rabbit holeof Terry Kaiser's career, is
because I was just like, is he adancer?
Is he like, is does he dophysical comedy?
Like, what how how is it that hewas so well suited for this job?
(38:01):
Because it's so impressive howwell trained he was and his
ability to do this.
Um and actually the grin on hisface, because he was saying he
felt like as an actor there wasvery little he could do.
And so he's like, what right?
Because his face has to say thesame.
(38:22):
And so, like, damn, he knockedit out of the park.
So it's just and I think a lessskilled physical comedian and
like also the chemistry betweenSilverman and McCarthy as
friends.
I I don't think this movie wouldbe our shaka when the one have
(38:43):
been successful.
SPEAKER_00 (38:45):
I have a question.
So you talked about tidywriting, and like you named the
two workers, and I was like, oh,this is just my question in the
moment was like, was this what'sthe writing purpose of this?
Is it just to show us thatBernie's kind of maybe deserves
to die?
We never actually say that, ofcourse, as human beings, but
(39:05):
that's what the writers weretrying to show us, so we don't
mourn them too much.
But then you said they comeback, but and they get locked in
the closet.
Is there any kind of like payoffof that?
SPEAKER_01 (39:15):
So they're locked in the closet.
Gwen has come in and is isconfronting Richard's.
Like you said he's dead, and Ijust saw you come off the beach
with him.
And Richard is trying to get herto leave, and Larry has gotten
the body and said, No, he'sdead.
Look.
And then Gwen is like looking atthem frightened, like, oh my
(39:35):
god, did you kill him?
And Richard says, Do we looklike we could kill somebody?
And I think she sees thatLarry's wearing Bernie's watch
or something.
unknown (39:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:46):
And Richard says, Okay, I'm sorry, do I look like
I could kill somebody?
And then the two guys locked inthe uh pantry start banging on
the door.
Oh, I see, I see.
Okay.
So there was a payoff.
There was a payoff for that.
Yeah.
And then also the other thingthat felt very tidy was when he
says Bernie's dead, and she'slike, Oh, like your parents and
(40:07):
your aunt.
Like, yeah.
Perfect.
Right.
So they set it up so that shewouldn't believe him.
The writer said that was justgorgeous.
I like it's just stood up andclapped.
In such a ridiculous movie.
But um, uh the screenwriterRobert Klain, I think his name.
(40:29):
Yeah, Robert Klain.
That that was just perfectscreenwriting because there's uh
like the rule of three incomedy, he did it.
Because like the my aunt is veryill is like such a weird thing.
And then he even says, like, Idon't even have an aunt.
Such a non sequitur.
Yeah.
And so similarly, like with thetwo maintenance people, just
(40:50):
that payoff is they did a lot ofwork to set it up, but then it
it wasn't satisfying pay.
And it's uh the the economy ofit too, because it shows us who
Bernie, those people show us whoBernie is, and they are also
important to the climax of thefilm.
SPEAKER_00 (41:06):
Yeah.
Cool.
Any final insights that you wantto share before I try and
reflect back the the takeaways Iheard?
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
I did have like just a moment or two thinking about
it's clear that Silverman'sRichard, it's not said, but it's
clear to me that he's Jewish.
He's played by JonathanSilverman.
He takes her to Jaime's Hunan.
As they're leaving, they'repassing by a number of Hasidic
Jews that dressed, it's clearthat he lives in the Jewish
neighborhood.
(41:34):
And so it got me thinking aboutbecause there are very clear
rules about death and howquickly one must Jewish death
culture culture.
And so, and that was part of ittoo.
I was just like, Richard, yourBobby would be so disappointed
in you.
(41:56):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (41:57):
Right.
So listener's Jewish custom isto to get the body in the ground
within three days.
SPEAKER_01 (42:03):
And like, granted, the from the time they they
discover Bernie's body to theend of the film is like a period
of about 24 hours.
So I mean, it's not that long.
SPEAKER_00 (42:16):
Yeah, but there's a certain deference that that
corpses are meant to give.
In part because, I mean, itcomes from a sense of
uncleanness from corpses, likefrom the olden days, but remains
as a cultural touchstone that wetry to bury them quick.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Okay.
That's funny.
All right.
So let me see if I can reflectback to you some of the key
(42:37):
takeaways from this film, whichlisteners, when we first got on
to record, Emily was like,There's nothing there.
Which here we are at the end ofthe episode.
There was something there, butmaybe not as much as we usually
find when we go back.
So does not pass Bechtdel test,though there are two named
(43:00):
female characters, they nevertalk to one another.
So that's first.
I think my biggest takeaway,actually, I think, is the power
of physical slapstick humor andthe skill needed to pull it off.
Like you said repeatedly aboutthe skill of the physical comedy
of the three leads.
(43:20):
So Bernie, Richard, and Larry,those are the characters' names,
to try and pull it off so thatwe believe that Bernie is dead,
or at least are willing tosuspend our disbelief because
it's funny, even though the bodydoesn't behave the way a corpse
actually would.
So that I think was the biggestthing.
(43:41):
I asked if there was anymeditations about mortality, and
it turns out there aren't.
Even though one of the main oneof the three main characters is
dead through most of the film.
So that's kind of interesting.
But what there was, what thereis a little bit of a sort of
contemplation and small critiqueof sort of overly status-driven,
(44:04):
like money-driven living, whereone is the life of the party
because they're hosting theparty, but actually can be
completely absent and no onenotices.
And the ways in which the twoyoung characters, Richard and
Larry, are like, that guy's gotit all.
But Bernie pays the ultimateprice for having it all.
(44:24):
And so we're shown sort of howquickly having it all, and
putting quotes around that, canbe taken away.
We also talked about sort of thehomophobia and transphobia that
are just like the entire natureof the fake suicide note that
was intended to humiliate andsort of shock and then be in the
(44:46):
interest of these two men'sloved ones to cover up, which is
with today's eyes, pretty gross,but went mostly without comment
from the larger culture, Iexpect, in 1989.
SPEAKER_01 (44:59):
There's one thing I forgot to mention during the
first party, there are twopeople arguing, a woman saying,
Like, I thought you my book wasgoing to be in the New York
Times book review.
And Larry, and he's like, Well,there's the person she's arguing
with, like, people just aren'tinterested.
And Larry asks, What's the bookabout?
And she says, I argue thatSherlock Holmes and Dr.
Watson were secretly married.
(45:21):
You must have loved that.
So the John Locke Shippers.
It's very old.
The John Locke Ship is very old.
SPEAKER_00 (45:31):
The book review writer is wrong.
People would very interesting.
That was the other thing I looklike in Dr.
SPEAKER_02 (45:37):
Watson being married.
SPEAKER_00 (45:41):
That's hilarious.
Okay.
Sorry, folks, that'll be anotherepisode.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (45:47):
Just thinking about the You noted the sort of Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (45:52):
You noted sort of the slippery nature of morality
here and the way that Richardsort of wants to be seen as
someone who is moral but hasvery little integrity, because
as soon as like there's a reasonnot to that he finds compelling,
in this case, it turns it'sGwen, then he changes his tune.
(46:13):
And that's not just aboutmorality for Richard, it's
actually about kind ofeverything, like just the way he
shows up, which is sort ofgross.
We both noted that though Gwenmay get the more desirable of
the two leads, like being alonemight have been a better option
for her.
Let me see.
(46:34):
You noted how tidy the writingis for this movie, even though
it's this movie that has verylittle depth to it, but that
it's it's neatly written withthe rules of three, so that he
says, My aunt is very ill.
He lies and says his parents aredead, he says his aunt died, and
then so that when he says Bernieis dead, Gwen is like, oh,
right, like the other people.
(46:56):
So that's really neat.
And then we also spent some timetalking about these two
maintenance workers whoactually, for being sort of
throwaway characters, move thecharacter development and the
story along, which is also nicewriting.
You named a little bit of asend-up of 1980s like yuppie
culture, like chasing affluencethat I spoke to, but I want to
(47:19):
name explicitly that you werenaming that as like a cultural
phenomenon.
It wasn't just affluence ingeneral, but sort of a little
bit of cultural commentary onwhat was happening in America in
the 1980s.
I think that's everything thatwe talked about.
Yeah.
Did I miss anything?
No, I think that's I thinkthat's everything.
SPEAKER_01 (47:38):
Just the ickiness of the scene with Tina and Oh,
well, there's icky there'sickiness for both of these
women.
SPEAKER_00 (47:44):
Just really unpleasant to think about Tina
having sex with this corpse.
It's also like we see Gwensubjected to some very
unpleasant come-ons that advancethe story but also feel a little
gratuitous.
So yeah.
Okay.
Oh, and then the last thing wasyou named that Richard is Jewish
(48:05):
coded.
And so that adds like a layer ofinteresting sort of background
pressure on his being soflippant with a corpse.
All right.
It's you again next week becauseof Halloween.
That's right.
SPEAKER_01 (48:18):
Yes.
I am going to be bringing you mydeep thoughts on Scream, which
was the movie that made me lovehorror.
Cool.
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
And it is one horror movie I actually have.
Oh, I didn't know you had seenit.
I'll look forward to hearingyour deep thoughts.
Yeah, I've seen it.
All right.
See you then.
This show is a labor of love,but that doesn't make it free to
produce.
If you enjoy it even half asmuch as we do, please consider
helping to keep us overthinking.
You can support us at ourPatreon.
(48:48):
There's a link in the shownotes.
Or leave a positive review soothers can find us.
And of course, share the showwith your people.
Thanks for listening.
Our theme music is ProfessorUmlaut by Kevin McLeod from
Incompotech.com.
Find full music credits in theshow notes.
Thank you to Resonate Recordingsfor editing today's episode.
(49:11):
Until next time, remember, popculture is still culture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
Like the whole the point of the movie, like the
reason why nobody notices he'sdead, is he's the life of the
party.
Everyone in Hampton Island knowsBernie.
Everybody loves Bernie, and it'sbecause they don't actually know
him.
SPEAKER_00 (00:11):
Have you ever had something you love dismissed?
Because it's just pop culture?
What others might deem stupidshit, you know matters.
You know it's worth talking andthinking about.
And so do we.
So come overthink with us as wedelve into our deep thoughts
about stupid shit.
SPEAKER_01 (00:31):
I'm Emily Guy Birkin, and you're listening to
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit.
Because pop culture is stillculture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
On today's episode, I'll besharing my deep thoughts about
the 1989 film Weekend atBernie's with my sister, Tracy
Guy Decker.
And with you.
Let's dive in.
So, Trace, I know you've seenthis film.
(00:53):
It's just Yeah.
I think it was like standardissue 80s childhood.
We you were required to watchit.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
Yeah, it feels like it was just sort of osmosis.
SPEAKER_01 (01:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So tell me what's in your headabout the weekend at Bernie's.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
Yeah, so my recollection is these two dudes
are like somehow get invited totheir bosses, or I don't know
what their relationship is withthe dude, with the older rich
dude, but his like beach house,and they go and the mob kills
him.
They kill Bernie.
And for some reason, the twoguys decide to pretend he's
(01:28):
still alive.
And so they like rig up allthese things to move his body to
make it look like he's alive.
And then the mobsters are like,How is that dude still alive?
So, like Bernie gets killedrepeatedly, is my recollection.
And I remember laughing a lot,which when I describe it, it
doesn't sound funny, but I Iremember it being very funny.
(01:50):
So that's what's in my headabout it.
But why are we talking about ittoday?
SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
I can't remember how we ended up putting it on the
list, but I do know that I wasthinking about it recently
because I used a gif from thisfilm.
If you can recall a few weeksago, the president wasn't seen
for like five days in a row.
And this is a man who does notlike to be away from the camera.
(02:14):
And then he said he was going tohave a big press conference at 2
p.m.
And then it didn't happen, andit didn't happen.
It was like 45 minutes late, andthen it was like an hour late.
And so I on social media posteda gif of the two characters with
their dead boss like runningtogether and posted how much you
(02:34):
want to bet the press conferenceis delayed to give Vance and
Rubio more time to practicethis.
Um because the I see.
So this why we're doing it now.
Because there were somesuggestions that there was a
weekend at Bernie situationgoing on.
And that's kind of where thissits.
(02:56):
I feel like in our culturalconsciousness, this you say
weekend at Bernie's and it meanssomething.
Like we know what that is.
You pretend that someone isstill alive who is dead, and you
manipulate things based on that.
And so if you'll recall, there'sthat episode of Star Trek The
(03:17):
Next Generation where theyencounter the species that
speaks entirely in metaphors,like Shaka when the walls fell.
SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
Yep.
Shaka when the walls fell.
SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
And so I feel like weekend at Bernie's is part of a
mare.
It's like Shaka when the wallsfell.
Our meme.
That's our metaphor.
So I haven't seen it in it'sgotta be 35 years.
Yeah, same.
(03:46):
So I was like, all right, let'ssee what is this.
Like, is there anything more tothis than the concept?
The answer is no.
Right.
So this is gonna be a shortepisode, that's what you're
telling me.
But the fact that it has hascaptured our attention and the
(04:08):
fact that like it came out what36 years ago?
I mean, it came out in 1989.
We're still talking about it.
And like and it's become ashorthand for something is
meaningful.
So I I think that's worthdiscussing.
So I'm gonna give you like justa few postcards from our the
(04:30):
destination, like we tell liketo say.
Something that I have thoughtmultiple times because the actor
who plays Bernie, his name isTerry Kaiser, and he is a
working actor.
He's still alive.
He's in his 80s at this point,and he has had a long and
storied career, but I only haveever seen him as Bernie.
Like I've never that I know of.
(04:52):
And I was looking at his careerhighlights, and I have only ever
seen him as Bernie.
Oh, you don't recognize theother one?
So he's done a lot in theaterand he's done a lot of like
television work and things likethat.
So he's basically he's a workingactor.
Uh-huh.
And uh so one of the things thatI did not recognize watching
(05:14):
this as a kid was the amount ofwork he does as a dead body and
how difficult that was.
And so, like, it just anappreciation for that.
And then also like the even in amovie this silly, there's some
(05:34):
really tidy writing throughout.
So there's still some things toreally appreciate.
So let me give you just somelike a relatively brief
synopsis, and it will be briefbecause there's not much to this
story.
There's a lot of shenanigans.
A lot of shenanigans that ensue.
So we meet Jonathan Silverman,who plays Richard, and his
(05:59):
friend Larry, played by AndrewMcCarthy.
We he's friend of the show,Andrew McCarthy.
He was Jonathan in Mannequin.
And so they are both, they workat an insurance company in New
York City.
It is late summer, it is hot ashell, and they are going into
work on a Sunday.
(06:20):
And because Richard is like ago-getter, wants to get ahead.
Like he really wants to like goforward in his career.
Larry's just kind of long forthe ride.
He's a lovable amoral slob.
So while they're at work on theSunday, Richard discovers, and
(06:40):
it's really it shows you justhow old this film is.
They're looking at printoutsfrom dot matrix printers.
unknown (06:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:50):
Oh wow.
I haven't thought about one ofthose in a while.
He discovers that theirinsurance company paid out$2
million for four differentinsurance policies for one man's
one man who died.
And it's not that he had fourdifferent insurance policies,
it's like he died four times.
(07:10):
So someone is trying to fleecethe company.
So it's fraud.
And so they're like, oh my God,we got to show Mr.
Lomax on Monday that someone'strying to defraud the company.
So they go in on Monday.
Larry encourages Richard to talkto Gwen, who is an intern at the
company.
She's heading back to collegesoon because it is the last week
(07:32):
of summer.
Coming up is Labor Day weekend.
And Larry pushes Richard to talkto her.
And Richard like just balks, andlike he goes to talk to her and
he goes, My aunt is very ill.
Because like he just can't thinkof what else to say.
And she's like, What?
(07:52):
That's a random thing to comeup.
Okay.
And so they go in to talk to Mr.
Lomax, who says, Please call meBernie.
At first, he gets angry at them.
He's like, some can have morethan one insurance policy.
And then Richard says, No, no,look at the back.
Some of these policies weretaken out after he died.
And then Lomax says, Oh mygoodness, wow, you guys, this is
(08:15):
great work.
We need to like comb throughthings, make sure we found
everything, but we have to keepit on the down low because we
don't know who did it.
Why don't you come to my beachhouse on Hampton Island this
weekend?
Take the six o'clock ferry onFriday.
You'll stay the weekend.
We'll figure it out.
We'll have a wonderful time.
And I'll give you a ride back tothe city on Monday.
Later that day, Richard and Gwensees Richard and says, I hope
(08:39):
your aunt feels better.
And he goes and talks to her andgets a date with her on Thursday
night.
We see Bernie going to talk toclearly a mob boss guy named
Vito, saying, You have to killthese two men because Bernie is
the one who embezzled the moneyand did the four fraudulent
insurance claims.
(08:59):
At that meal, it's Vito and Vitosaying, like, well, I don't kill
people anymore.
Polly is the actual whackerenforcement guy.
And he's like, I'm a littlerusty, but I think I can do it.
Then there's I don't know theVito's right-hand man, and then
Tina, Vito's girlfriend.
(09:21):
Tina is under the table, likeputting her foot in Larry's,
excuse me, in Bernie's lap.
So there's something going onbetween Tina and Bernie.
And so Bernie says, look, we'llmake it look like a murder
suicide, and we'll pin the blamefor the$2 million fraud on these
two guys.
So bring my house on the island,pin the blame on them.
(09:43):
I'll leave a note, take care ofit.
And Polly says, Well, I'm alittle rusty, but I can do it.
And so Bernie gets up andleaves.
And then Tina immediately says,I'm gonna go powder my nose, and
she leaves.
Vito goes to his right hand manand says, Go after them.
And so the right hand man seesBernie and Tina set up a time
for her to come see him Fridaynight at the apartment in
(10:06):
Manhattan because he doesn'tplan to stay on the island.
And then Vito tells Polly, Don'tworry about these two guys, kill
Bernie because he's gettingsloppy and he's he's sleeping
with Tina.
So we see the date between Gwenand Richard.
It's going well.
He takes her to a place calledJaime's Hunan, which is sweet
(10:28):
and sour matzaballs.
That's funny.
That's very funny.
Yeah.
And she we've uh previouslylearned that Richard still lives
with his parents while Larry hasan apartment to himself, but
it's tiny and cockroach-filled.
And so Gwen is like they'relike, let's go someplace where
(10:49):
we can talk.
And Gwen's like, Well, I'dinvite you to my place, but I
have five roommates.
And she's like, I it was eitherthat or live with my parents,
and that just didn't seem like agood idea.
And so Richard lies.
So he doesn't want to admit helives with his parents.
So Richard lies and takes herback to his place, but it's his
parents' place.
And their date isn't interruptedby because his parents are
(11:10):
asleep.
Date is interrupted, uh, and helies and says his parents are
dead.
And oh yeah.
And his dad wakes up and comesthrough in his underwear to get
a drink from the kitchen.
And so she finds out and sheleaves in a huff.
unknown (11:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:26):
So the next day is Friday, Richard and Larry
heading to the island.
We see Bernie arrive there onhis own private boat.
He gets to his house and heyells at two different
maintenance workers who he hadhired.
One is a guy he'd hired andfired who's hanging out there
saying, like, I want my 90bucks.
And he's like, I fired you,you're not getting it.
(11:47):
And like he kicks him.
And then another guy who's liketaking care of the plants in the
house, who's a little nicer too,but is also kind of rude to.
SPEAKER_00 (11:54):
Is that to make sure we don't have too much sympathy
for him?
Partially.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
It also comes in later.
SPEAKER_00 (11:59):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
And then Paulie calls from payphone on the
island saying, like, hey, I'mhere on the island.
And Bernie's like, You're early.
Those guys aren't getting hereuntil the six o'clock ferry.
And Polly's like, just remind mewhere your house is again.
And Bernie accidentally ends uprecording it on his answering
machine.
Answering machine.
He's like, Well, you know, we'llmake sure you kill these two
(12:20):
schmucks.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave thenote here and all of that,
basically outlining the entireplan.
Pauly shows up, and so we seeBernie type up the note and put
it in his briefcase.
Polly shows up and he kills himwith an overdose of heroin.
So, which gives Bernie a kind ofa like a grin.
(12:40):
Like a beatific kind of a look.
And Polly leaves Bernie with apair of sunglasses on his eyes.
Uh-huh.
So Richard and Larry show up,the house is empty, and they
just let themselves in.
A woman comes by in a bikini andsays, Hey, tell Bernie I'm
taking the keys to his boat.
And they're like, Oh, okay,well, we're his house guests.
(13:02):
And she's like, Oh, yeah, theparty just kind of roams around.
It always ends up here though.
So it's like kind of made clearthat things are very loose on
the island.
Uh-huh.
So they find Bernie.
They think he's drunk.
And so like they they like pickhim up and take, like, kind of
walk him to the um, because he'suh in like an office area.
(13:24):
They walk him to the living roomand they start trying to make
coffee for him, which is whenRichard realizes he's dead.
Like he he falls over, and Pollyhad planted the syringe that he
used to inject him and then abaggie of the heroin in his
pocket and that falls out.
And Richard finds that, and thenhe's he like puts his sunglasses
under his nose and realizes no,this man's dead.
(13:46):
And they're freaking out.
And Richard starts to call 911when the roving party arrives,
and there's so much going on.
And like the first person whocomes in is completely drunk and
sits down and is talking toBernie and doesn't realize he's
dead.
And Larry quickly realizes,like, oh, we could still have
(14:06):
our fun weekend, and is like,what if we just pretend he's
still alive and have our funweekend?
And Richard's like, No, we'renot gonna do that until he sees
that Gwen is here on the island.
He thought he wasn't gonna seeher again.
And it turns out she's here onthis island too.
He's like, All right, give me 20minutes.
And so he ends up going to talkto her.
She asks him, How's your aunt?
(14:26):
And he goes, Oh, she died.
And she tries to go in.
She's like, Oh, I want to,there's Mr.
Lomax.
I want to go thank him for theinternship.
And he tries to stop her andisn't able to.
And she's trying to get inthrough to the party, and all
these drunk men are stopping herand saying the most vile things
like, Oh, that outfit is whatyou're wearing, is so beautiful.
(14:48):
It would look even better,crumpled on my floor.
Like that kind of awful shit.
And yeah, and she's supposed tobe like a college student.
So, ugh.
So she ends up leaving and iswalking on the beach because
she's like, I'm out of thisshit.
And uh, Larry and Richard havemoved Bernie and like dumped him
(15:09):
onto the sand to keep her fromgoing to try to talk to him.
So Richard then sees her walkingon the beach.
He goes to go talk to her.
They are having a kind of a niceromantic date.
They go up to a lighthouse, heends up falling down the stairs.
It's shenanigans.
But he tells her, I've had acrush on you since the first day
(15:29):
you showed up, and they'rekissing on the beach when the
high tide has taken Bernie'sbody and now it's washing up
next to them where they'rekissing.
Yeah.
And so she doesn't see what hedoes.
He's like, Oh my God, I can'tbelieve this is happening to me.
She's like, It's happening toboth of us.
And he's like, No, you deservecandles and flowers and
everything.
Let's go, and is like hustlingher back.
(15:50):
And so he gets Larry and theybring the body back to the house
and put it in his bedroom.
That's when Tina shows upbecause the party has left at
that point.
Uh-huh.
Because she had thought he wasgoing to be in Manhattan, and
now she's like, Yeah, he's like,he's cheating on me, which is
(16:10):
like she's somebody else's girl.
Anyway.
And so they're like, Well, nowthe screaming starts because
she's gonna find that he's dead,and he's she's in there for like
20 minutes, and she comes downlike humming and like pleased
with herself, and like, how dideverything go?
And she's like, It's better thanever.
Like, and at this point, she hadsex with a dead body, and Vito's
(16:36):
right-hand man has beenfollowing and watching, and
there's like huge windows, andso he could see what was going
on.
And so the right-hand man'scalling Vito is like, I don't
know, like Polly might have beenmore rusty than we thought.
Bernie's still alive, she sleptwith him.
So they send Polly back to killhim again.
(16:56):
Yeah.
So Richard at this point isoverwhelmed and exhausted.
He's like, I'm just gonna, I'mjust gonna lie down for a little
bit.
Wake me up in the morning, we'lldeal with it in the morning,
we'll call the cops.
So the next morning, Larry hasset Bernie up on the porch with
a Monopoly game, and he's gotfishing line on Bernie's arm.
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
On his arm.
I remember that.
SPEAKER_01 (17:20):
So he wave.
Uh-huh.
So Richard like wakes up, isfreaking out because he slept
until 11:30 in the morning.
Shenanigans ensue.
They end up hearing theanswering machine message and
realize, like, oh my God, he wasgonna kill us.
(17:40):
They find the note because thatwas in the answering machine,
they find the note.
And the notes was that writtenfrom Larry that they had
embezzled the money to pay forLarry's sex change operation,
but then Richard had fallen inlove with someone else, and so
now Larry was going to killRichard and then himself.
(18:02):
Oh my god.
Burn.
Yeah.
And then Larry's like, why hasit got to be me who's having the
sex change operation?
And Richard's like, nobody'sactually having one.
And Larry's like, oh yeah.
And so at this point, they'relike, okay, we gotta keep
(18:27):
pretending that Bernie's alive,because part of what was saying
is like, don't kill them whileI'm here, because I need an
alibi.
SPEAKER_00 (18:34):
Right, right.
So they think that they thinkthe hit is still out on them.
So that's what I remember wasthat they were in like afraid
for them themselves.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:44):
So Gwen at some point had come by and said,
like, I want to talk to Bernie.
And he's like, nope, Bernie'sdead.
And she's like, Oh, so like yourparents are dead and your aunt's
dead.
And at that point, Larry hadpushed Bernie off the edge of
the porch to like try to avoidhaving her talk to Bernie and
(19:05):
get shenanigans.
So they they grab Bernie and tryto get on the ferry.
They'd have no idea who's tryingto kill them, so they're
avoiding everyone.
They miss the fairy.
Meanwhile, Polly had strangledBernie after he'd been dropped
off the porch and is leaving.
(19:28):
And then as they're trying toget the ferry, like all three of
them, like in a like athree-legged race or whatever,
Polly sees them and is nowtrying to get off the ferry
metal on the island.
Because he thinks he's stillalive.
I don't understand why this isfunny.
(19:51):
And so they realize, oh wait,Bernie has his own boat.
We just need to go get the keysbecause the girl in the bikini
had borrowed it before.
So they go back to the house,and that's when the two workers
that we saw him be mean to earlycome back, and they don't know
who they are.
So Richard knocks them both out.
(20:12):
There's the one who is angrybecause he was fired, and the
other one who was taking care ofthe plants.
He knocks them both out and thenthey lock them in the pantry.
Oh my god.
I know.
They steal the boat, they tieBernie up to the back of it, and
neither of them have any ideahow to steer a boat, and
shenanigans ensue.
Bernie ends up falling off theback of the boat and is like
(20:34):
hitting dragged behind him.
So people think he's waterskiing, and then he's hitting
like um, I can't remember whatthose buoys, but they're like
metals.
SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
So ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
SPEAKER_01 (20:45):
Do you hear that?
What is that noise?
So then they run out of gas andthey have to, they have to, they
put lifelasts on all three ofthem, and they paddle back to
Hampton Island on Bernie.
And they, oh my god.
And then they get to the house,and Gwen sees them getting out
(21:09):
of the beach, and she comes tothe house, she's really angry at
Richard, and she's like, Youtell me that he's dead, and I
just saw you with him on thebeach.
Richard's like, I don't want tosound rude, but get the hell out
of here.
You're in danger.
That's when Polly shows up andputs like six bullets in Bernie,
and the three of them are like,We didn't see anything, we
(21:29):
didn't see anything.
And he three being the two men,Gwen.
Larry, Richard, and Gwen.
And so Polly's like his gun isempty.
He's like, Yeah, but this oneisn't.
So they're running around,shenanigans in Sue.
Larry says, Richard, take Gwenand hide.
I'll um pull him away from you.
And Richard says, Okay.
And Larry's like, You weren'teven gonna argue with me.
(21:53):
So for ridiculously, Richardsubdues Polly right by Bernie's
body, and Polly falls over, andBernie's arm grabs him.
So when the police come, Pollyis being hauled away in a
straitjacket, going, He's stillalive.
I didn't kill him, he's stillalive.
(22:15):
And Gwen has invited Richard toher house for a week.
He's gonna take a week off andspend some time with her.
And she's like, You should cometoo to Larry.
And behind her head, Richard'slike, So, and Larry's like, No,
I think I'm gonna stick arounduh Bernie's house.
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
Because we've already seen that he's
completely sorry, listeners.
Behind his head, Richard wasshaking his head no and doing
the cut, like cut cut your neck.
Yeah, sorry, the gesture.
Remember, it's an audio only.
Sorry, sorry.
I am a very smart person.
SPEAKER_01 (22:53):
And then they are they have loaded Bernie on a
stretcher, but um, he falls,like they haven't put the brakes
on, and so the body falls offthe stretcher and lands in the
sand behind Gwen, Richard, andLarry.
And someone sees him and goes,like, hey Bernie, and they turn
around and look behind him, anduh they like scream and run off,
(23:15):
and that's the end of the film.
I I don't like how did this filmget made?
SPEAKER_00 (23:27):
Well, it's become a cultural telephone as we say as
we started here.
So where do you want to start?
Uh okay, doesn't pass backdell.
So we have uh two named femalecharacters, but they never talk
to each other.
SPEAKER_01 (23:42):
Tina and Tina and we have Gwen.
Yeah, they never meet each otherand they never talk to each
other.
Yeah.
So it doesn't quite a bit ofobjectification of women because
there's a lot of women bikinisand just it's gross.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:58):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, and so and listeners as areminder, the Backdell test are
asks three questions.
Are there at least two namedfemale characters?
Do they talk to each other anddo they talk to each other about
something other than a man or aboy?
So this film passes the firstquestion, but not the second.
Yeah.
Okay.
There's also like that.
I mean, it's it it does advancethe plot, but there's some
(24:20):
pretty gross sexual harassmentof a college co-ed when Gwen is
hit on at the party.
And like Larry is no, sorry,Richard, who's who is the person
she actually ends up with, isdoesn't sound like he's actually
a catch.
Like he's better than the guyswho are like, that's a beautiful
outfit and it would look betteron my floor, but that's a pretty
low bar, y'all.
(24:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
He's lying left and right, and like, guys, not a
catch.
Yeah, he's supposed to be likethe sweet one, but like how?
Compared to what though?
Well, because Larry takesBernie's Rolex off his dead
body.
(25:04):
So ew.
Yeah.
And like, if they had pretendedthat Bernie were still alive
because they feared for theirlives from the jump from the
beginning, much more forgivable.
But they were doing it likeLarry was just doing it because
he wanted a weekend away.
(25:26):
He wanted a party.
And then Richard like wasabsolutely not.
We're calling the cops until hesaw that Gwen was there.
And then he's like, give me 20minutes.
SPEAKER_00 (25:38):
Yeah, that's fucked up.
And it's like a man is dead.
And they think it's from anoverdose.
Like they don't, they think it'san accidental death.
Yeah, that's messed up.
So what?
Gwen will still what?
So like that well, I mean, shegot the better of she got the
(25:58):
best man in this film.
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Not by much.
Those are not the only, andthey're not the only two options
in the world, Gwen.
Honestly.
Being alone is a better option.
Your five roommates were at homewashing their hair.
Gonna be a better option.
(26:24):
So like, and that that is onething that I think is really
okay.
So I there's this like slipperynature of morality in this film.
Because Richard is supposed tobe the more moral of the two of
them.
He's the one who's like, when wemeet him, he's waiting for Larry
to get to work.
And like, because it's he'slike, it's 10:30.
(26:45):
I said 10 o'clock.
And Larry's like, oh, I'm early.
I'm usually 45 minutes late.
Because they're going to work ona Sunday.
So like they're gone later thanthey normally would.
And so, and Richard's the onewho's like, all right, we're
gonna, we're gonna do this,we're gonna call the cops, we do
the right thing.
But like the minute it gets alittle bit hard, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_00 (27:08):
So, like or the I mean it's the crush, right?
The crush is the reason he likeit's so it's not even hard, it's
just like a different rewardsystem.
SPEAKER_01 (27:20):
So, like the minute his crush says, like, oh well,
it didn't seem like good, Idon't live with my parents, he's
like, Well, I would don't livewith my parents.
Right.
Either you live with integrityor you don't.
And so that like that slipperynature of of morality is grody.
It's really grody.
(27:41):
Especially like now, in thescene with the because he's
immediately punished by thestory for lying about his
parents.
Right.
So, like, okay, it could be youcould say, like, okay, it's
clear this is not how it'ssupposed to work.
You just be honest, just beyourself.
But the thing is, like, whenit's something even bigger, like
(28:04):
this is a man has died.
Right.
Stop.
Right.
And especially when she's madeit clear, because that was one
of the things that she says,like, she's impressed with the
apartment, and she's like, wow,this one's got cost a fortune,
and like I'm kind of impressedyou took me to Jaime's Hunan.
A lot of people would have triedto like impress me with like a
(28:28):
really expensive restaurant, andso like I don't like it when
people don't pretend to be otherthan who they are.
Oh so like there's this wholething in there, like, she
appreciates genuine people.
So why is he pretending?
SPEAKER_00 (28:47):
Yeah.
I mean, the name of the show isDeep Thought.
So, like, this is a movie aboutlike a dead dude, right?
So, are there like meditationsabout mortality in this movie?
No.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
It's just a slapstick company.
I mean, like, no, like theythere really isn't much.
Now, there is like there's alittle bit like the whole the
point of the movie, like thereason why nobody notices he's
dead, is he's the life of theparty.
Everyone in Hampton Island knowsBernie, everybody loves Bernie,
and it's because they don'tactually know him.
(29:37):
Like, he's just the host, he'sjust the house that everybody's
a cardboard.
He's a cardboard cutout.
Who's like and so when he turnsinto a cardboard cutout, nobody
notices.
Yeah.
So like there's a sense of andlike Richard and Larry, at one
point on that Monday, beforethey get a chance to s go in and
(29:58):
see him, they see him going tolunch.
Lunch in a really expensive carwith a beautiful woman to a very
expensive restaurant.
And they're like, man, that guyhas it all.
And so there is a little bit ofa like critique of that kind of
culture.
SPEAKER_00 (30:15):
That status.
So it's not actually aboutmortality, but it is maybe about
humans and status.
Is there's a commentary on that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:24):
A little bit on that these trappings mean nothing.
Because you don't even have tobe there for people to be like,
that was the best party you'veever thrown, Bernie.
Like they actually say that.
And he's he's not even there.
SPEAKER_00 (30:41):
So right.
Right.
And also there's something abouttoo about how quickly it can be
taken from someone.
Right?
Like he has everything.
That dude has everything.
And he thinks he's getting awaywith it.
And the his partner in crime islike, fuck that dude.
Yeah.
And then it's over.
SPEAKER_01 (31:00):
And like the he has everything.
Like, what's everything?
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
You know, like the every it's all stuff.
Yeah.
It's all well, the woman's notstuff, but actually she sort of
is.
SPEAKER_01 (31:11):
Well, because it's it's not Tina in the way that
it's Yeah.
The woman that he's taking tolunch is not Tina.
And it's not like it's adifferent woman is on his arm
every it it's she is a prize.
So shh, quote unquote.
But yeah, possession of sorts.
In in in the world of thestatus.
Yeah, it's it's very much thatlike kind of 1980s yuppie
(31:32):
culture.
But there's not really like soyou get a little bit of that
kind of meditation, but at thesame time, it's not really
critiqued because we don't seeRichard and Larry like learn
anything from it.
SPEAKER_00 (31:45):
Right.
I mean it's critiqued insofar asBernie pays the price for it.
But there's no insight about it.
SPEAKER_01 (31:52):
Yeah.
So like it's not as if Richard'slike, you know what?
Well, okay.
When Richard says he's taken aweek off and he's gonna go with
Gwen to her house, Larry says,you're actually taking time off.
You're taking a vacation.
I've never seen you take timeoff.
So there is that.
That's not much.
That's very little.
(32:14):
And it's also like that has beenhis MO throughout.
Like she's the thing that he'llchange his rules for.
SPEAKER_00 (32:21):
That's right.
That's right.
So actually, he does it's notnecessarily a change.
By that interpretation, it's nota change at all.
He's changed the way he talkedabout things repeatedly as a
result of things that Gwen hassaid or done, or opportunities
to see her or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So can we talk about this uhmurder suicide?
(32:43):
Oh my goodness.
That Bernie wrote, becausethat's kind of icky.
Bears some unpacking, maybe.
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
So yeah, like the homophobia and transphobia, like
just built into that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:56):
I also was in particular because it's written
to to shock and humiliate men.
SPEAKER_01 (33:02):
I also was thinking, like, how would that work?
Like Richard's parents.
How would what work?
Well, so after their bodies werefound and the note was found,
Richard's parents would be like,No.
Like, we don't know enough aboutLarry's life outside of work.
Because we don't see much of it.
(33:23):
But what we see of like Richardand his life outside of work, we
can be pretty sure that hisparents would be like, There's
no way he would embezzle money.
I know that he didn't have thatkind of relationship with Larry.
Like, no.
SPEAKER_00 (33:37):
Yes, and especially in 1989, a relationship like
that would have been so I mean,that was that's why Bernie would
have written the note because itwould have been so taboo that
even your closest friends mightnot know about it.
SPEAKER_01 (33:52):
Well, and that they'd want to cover it up
rather than investigate.
And it's played for laughs inthis film.
And I I had no memory of thatwhatsoever.
SPEAKER_00 (34:01):
No, I don't remember that either.
It's icky.
I mean, it's par for the coursefor 1980s, but yeah, it's one of
the examples of the ways thatjust like casual homophobia and
transphobia were just played forlaughs.
Yeah.
And just to be embarrassing andshocking and not actually have
(34:22):
any kind of sympathy or empathyfor the experiences of gay folks
or trans folks.
SPEAKER_01 (34:28):
And to have it be like the punchline being like no
one's actually getting a sexchange operation.
Oh yeah.
Be like the joke.
And I well, that's just kind ofweird.
SPEAKER_00 (34:41):
It's just it's so again, par for the course, for
the time.
Yeah, I mean, like the word thatkeeps coming to mind is
childish, but this whole film ischildish.
Yeah.
Like that's kind of what'sfunny.
SPEAKER_01 (34:53):
And it's the like I'm trying to think what someone
would say like these days, likeif this movie were made today.
The society note would just bedifferent.
I hope.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I do want to say the physicalcomedy is really impressive.
Especially Terry Kaiser and thenhis stunt uh doubles.
(35:18):
I don't know how they did whatthey did.
And then when the three leadswere working, like Terry Kaiser,
Jonathan Silverman, and AndrewMcCarthy were like working
together to do like the tryingto run together and stuff like
that.
It's like dancing.
It's like ballet.
Probably involved a lot ofchoreography and rehearsal.
SPEAKER_00 (35:38):
Did you find yourself laughing?
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
I did.
It was so weird because, like,why am I laughing at this?
Like, notably, Roger Ebert hatedthis film.
He gave it one star.
And he, yeah, he said basicallyit's a one-joke film, and it
tried to, it made the mistake ofthinking it could make an entire
(36:00):
film out of it.
And he's not wrong.
But for some reason, like partof it is like But for some
reason the joke was funny overand over again.
SPEAKER_00 (36:09):
With the different physical sorts of things.
SPEAKER_01 (36:10):
And I think it's because of how good the physical
comedy was, even though it isbiologically wrong.
SPEAKER_00 (36:19):
Doesn't rigor mortis set in eventually?
I mean, that's because that'swhat how she's able to have sex
with him, right?
Theoretically.
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
That's actually the only part that he found funny
because we it's not seen.
Uh it's the only part that RogerEbert found funny.
And it is kind of funny becauseAndrew McCarthy and Jonathan
Silverman are like, she's beenup there for a long time.
And then McCarthy's like, man,it gets laid more as a dead guy
than I do.
And then I was like, I getyelled at if I just lay there.
(36:53):
And he's like, and it's funnybecause like we don't actually
see anything.
And I was like, that's the part,like, I didn't I remember even
as a kid not finding that funnybecause I find it so disturbing
because there's a lack ofconsent there, and it's like
there's some really disturbing.
And there's some theconversation between McCarthy
(37:16):
and Silverman, it there's somefunny moments in there that I
laughed.
But the what's going on betweenTina and Bernie is not funny to
me at all.
Like I do not find that funny.
I find it really awful.
Yeah, I agree.
But like the the physical comedywith the dead body that's not
actually a dead body, when I'mnot like focused on the like,
(37:38):
that's not how dead bodies work,I couldn't help but chuckle on
multiple occasions, justbecause, like, that's actually
why I went down the rabbit holeof Terry Kaiser's career, is
because I was just like, is he adancer?
Is he like, is does he dophysical comedy?
Like, what how how is it that hewas so well suited for this job?
(38:01):
Because it's so impressive howwell trained he was and his
ability to do this.
Um and actually the grin on hisface, because he was saying he
felt like as an actor there wasvery little he could do.
And so he's like, what right?
Because his face has to say thesame.
(38:22):
And so, like, damn, he knockedit out of the park.
So it's just and I think a lessskilled physical comedian and
like also the chemistry betweenSilverman and McCarthy as
friends.
I I don't think this movie wouldbe our shaka when the one have
(38:43):
been successful.
SPEAKER_00 (38:45):
I have a question.
So you talked about tidywriting, and like you named the
two workers, and I was like, oh,this is just my question in the
moment was like, was this what'sthe writing purpose of this?
Is it just to show us thatBernie's kind of maybe deserves
to die?
We never actually say that, ofcourse, as human beings, but
(39:05):
that's what the writers weretrying to show us, so we don't
mourn them too much.
But then you said they comeback, but and they get locked in
the closet.
Is there any kind of like payoffof that?
SPEAKER_01 (39:15):
So they're locked in the closet.
Gwen has come in and is isconfronting Richard's.
Like you said he's dead, and Ijust saw you come off the beach
with him.
And Richard is trying to get herto leave, and Larry has gotten
the body and said, No, he'sdead.
Look.
And then Gwen is like looking atthem frightened, like, oh my
(39:35):
god, did you kill him?
And Richard says, Do we looklike we could kill somebody?
And I think she sees thatLarry's wearing Bernie's watch
or something.
unknown (39:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:46):
And Richard says, Okay, I'm sorry, do I look like
I could kill somebody?
And then the two guys locked inthe uh pantry start banging on
the door.
Oh, I see, I see.
Okay.
So there was a payoff.
There was a payoff for that.
Yeah.
And then also the other thingthat felt very tidy was when he
says Bernie's dead, and she'slike, Oh, like your parents and
(40:07):
your aunt.
Like, yeah.
Perfect.
Right.
So they set it up so that shewouldn't believe him.
The writer said that was justgorgeous.
I like it's just stood up andclapped.
In such a ridiculous movie.
But um, uh the screenwriterRobert Klain, I think his name.
(40:29):
Yeah, Robert Klain.
That that was just perfectscreenwriting because there's uh
like the rule of three incomedy, he did it.
Because like the my aunt is veryill is like such a weird thing.
And then he even says, like, Idon't even have an aunt.
Such a non sequitur.
Yeah.
And so similarly, like with thetwo maintenance people, just
(40:50):
that payoff is they did a lot ofwork to set it up, but then it
it wasn't satisfying pay.
And it's uh the the economy ofit too, because it shows us who
Bernie, those people show us whoBernie is, and they are also
important to the climax of thefilm.
SPEAKER_00 (41:06):
Yeah.
Cool.
Any final insights that you wantto share before I try and
reflect back the the takeaways Iheard?
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
I did have like just a moment or two thinking about
it's clear that Silverman'sRichard, it's not said, but it's
clear to me that he's Jewish.
He's played by JonathanSilverman.
He takes her to Jaime's Hunan.
As they're leaving, they'repassing by a number of Hasidic
Jews that dressed, it's clearthat he lives in the Jewish
neighborhood.
(41:34):
And so it got me thinking aboutbecause there are very clear
rules about death and howquickly one must Jewish death
culture culture.
And so, and that was part of ittoo.
I was just like, Richard, yourBobby would be so disappointed
in you.
(41:56):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (41:57):
Right.
So listener's Jewish custom isto to get the body in the ground
within three days.
SPEAKER_01 (42:03):
And like, granted, the from the time they they
discover Bernie's body to theend of the film is like a period
of about 24 hours.
So I mean, it's not that long.
SPEAKER_00 (42:16):
Yeah, but there's a certain deference that that
corpses are meant to give.
In part because, I mean, itcomes from a sense of
uncleanness from corpses, likefrom the olden days, but remains
as a cultural touchstone that wetry to bury them quick.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Okay.
That's funny.
All right.
So let me see if I can reflectback to you some of the key
(42:37):
takeaways from this film, whichlisteners, when we first got on
to record, Emily was like,There's nothing there.
Which here we are at the end ofthe episode.
There was something there, butmaybe not as much as we usually
find when we go back.
So does not pass Bechtdel test,though there are two named
(43:00):
female characters, they nevertalk to one another.
So that's first.
I think my biggest takeaway,actually, I think, is the power
of physical slapstick humor andthe skill needed to pull it off.
Like you said repeatedly aboutthe skill of the physical comedy
of the three leads.
(43:20):
So Bernie, Richard, and Larry,those are the characters' names,
to try and pull it off so thatwe believe that Bernie is dead,
or at least are willing tosuspend our disbelief because
it's funny, even though the bodydoesn't behave the way a corpse
actually would.
So that I think was the biggestthing.
(43:41):
I asked if there was anymeditations about mortality, and
it turns out there aren't.
Even though one of the main oneof the three main characters is
dead through most of the film.
So that's kind of interesting.
But what there was, what thereis a little bit of a sort of
contemplation and small critiqueof sort of overly status-driven,
(44:04):
like money-driven living, whereone is the life of the party
because they're hosting theparty, but actually can be
completely absent and no onenotices.
And the ways in which the twoyoung characters, Richard and
Larry, are like, that guy's gotit all.
But Bernie pays the ultimateprice for having it all.
(44:24):
And so we're shown sort of howquickly having it all, and
putting quotes around that, canbe taken away.
We also talked about sort of thehomophobia and transphobia that
are just like the entire natureof the fake suicide note that
was intended to humiliate andsort of shock and then be in the
(44:46):
interest of these two men'sloved ones to cover up, which is
with today's eyes, pretty gross,but went mostly without comment
from the larger culture, Iexpect, in 1989.
SPEAKER_01 (44:59):
There's one thing I forgot to mention during the
first party, there are twopeople arguing, a woman saying,
Like, I thought you my book wasgoing to be in the New York
Times book review.
And Larry, and he's like, Well,there's the person she's arguing
with, like, people just aren'tinterested.
And Larry asks, What's the bookabout?
And she says, I argue thatSherlock Holmes and Dr.
Watson were secretly married.
(45:21):
You must have loved that.
So the John Locke Shippers.
It's very old.
The John Locke Ship is very old.
SPEAKER_00 (45:31):
The book review writer is wrong.
People would very interesting.
That was the other thing I looklike in Dr.
SPEAKER_02 (45:37):
Watson being married.
SPEAKER_00 (45:41):
That's hilarious.
Okay.
Sorry, folks, that'll be anotherepisode.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (45:47):
Just thinking about the You noted the sort of Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (45:52):
You noted sort of the slippery nature of morality
here and the way that Richardsort of wants to be seen as
someone who is moral but hasvery little integrity, because
as soon as like there's a reasonnot to that he finds compelling,
in this case, it turns it'sGwen, then he changes his tune.
(46:13):
And that's not just aboutmorality for Richard, it's
actually about kind ofeverything, like just the way he
shows up, which is sort ofgross.
We both noted that though Gwenmay get the more desirable of
the two leads, like being alonemight have been a better option
for her.
Let me see.
(46:34):
You noted how tidy the writingis for this movie, even though
it's this movie that has verylittle depth to it, but that
it's it's neatly written withthe rules of three, so that he
says, My aunt is very ill.
He lies and says his parents aredead, he says his aunt died, and
then so that when he says Bernieis dead, Gwen is like, oh,
right, like the other people.
(46:56):
So that's really neat.
And then we also spent some timetalking about these two
maintenance workers whoactually, for being sort of
throwaway characters, move thecharacter development and the
story along, which is also nicewriting.
You named a little bit of asend-up of 1980s like yuppie
culture, like chasing affluencethat I spoke to, but I want to
(47:19):
name explicitly that you werenaming that as like a cultural
phenomenon.
It wasn't just affluence ingeneral, but sort of a little
bit of cultural commentary onwhat was happening in America in
the 1980s.
I think that's everything thatwe talked about.
Yeah.
Did I miss anything?
No, I think that's I thinkthat's everything.
SPEAKER_01 (47:38):
Just the ickiness of the scene with Tina and Oh,
well, there's icky there'sickiness for both of these
women.
SPEAKER_00 (47:44):
Just really unpleasant to think about Tina
having sex with this corpse.
It's also like we see Gwensubjected to some very
unpleasant come-ons that advancethe story but also feel a little
gratuitous.
So yeah.
Okay.
Oh, and then the last thing wasyou named that Richard is Jewish
(48:05):
coded.
And so that adds like a layer ofinteresting sort of background
pressure on his being soflippant with a corpse.
All right.
It's you again next week becauseof Halloween.
That's right.
SPEAKER_01 (48:18):
Yes.
I am going to be bringing you mydeep thoughts on Scream, which
was the movie that made me lovehorror.
Cool.
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
And it is one horror movie I actually have.
Oh, I didn't know you had seenit.
I'll look forward to hearingyour deep thoughts.
Yeah, I've seen it.
All right.
See you then.
This show is a labor of love,but that doesn't make it free to
produce.
If you enjoy it even half asmuch as we do, please consider
helping to keep us overthinking.
You can support us at ourPatreon.
(48:48):
There's a link in the shownotes.
Or leave a positive review soothers can find us.
And of course, share the showwith your people.
Thanks for listening.
Our theme music is ProfessorUmlaut by Kevin McLeod from
Incompotech.com.
Find full music credits in theshow notes.
Thank you to Resonate Recordingsfor editing today's episode.
(49:11):
Until next time, remember, popculture is still culture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
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