November 25, 2024 • 64 mins
Harken! The mountain's four wise men/women left the summit to discuss Ted Kotcheff's Weekend at Bernie's! Released in 1989, the film stars Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, Terry Kiser, and many others. It was filmed in the United States and was distributed by 20th Century Fox! Enjoy your bi-weekly trip to Shaolin.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
This is justin the hoary Urchin, and before we start
our show, i'd like to remind you to like and
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We'd also like to talk to all of our listeners
and answer any questions that you all might have, For example,
why do this or for what purpose?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Or will Erica ever find love? Well?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Email us at the Heavenly Mandate all one word, the
Heavenly Mandate at gmail dot com. That's the Heavenly Mandate
at gmail dot com, and maybe you can be that
special someone Erica has been looking for. Without further ado,
onto the show.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
It's bad news.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
It's table news. Watch up our group of men. That's fine,
you saved me.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I have nothing to.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Offer to you to Welcome to the Welcome to the
Heavily Mandate.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Welcome to the Heavily Mandates. We have We have descended
from our mountain abode, momentarily forsaken our kung fu studies.
To be still our unique perspectives on film. To the
beleaguered and wretched people of the earth. I am justin
the hoary Urchin joining me today is the drunken master himself.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Kellen. How are you doing?
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Man?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Quite quite well. I have an almost deathlike zen approach
to the coming years, not that that means anything, but
specifically for this film, I think I think we can
appreciate a bit of drunken mastery going up throughout the
you're choosing to review this Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Josh, the Deadliest of Venoms is here? How are you doing, sir?
Limp Flacid?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Oh all right?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Erica, Lady Desstab the Black Widow is Max and relaxing
behind the Nova Mall and Novay Michigan. Sadly she can't
join us today.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We should, we should, We should just have an AI
cloned version.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Yeah, We've discussed this many times. It's it's possible. Also though,
all said, note, is this the first time we've ever
recorded with the original three since like Episode three? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
No, No, we did Cube three of Us Yeah, and
we also did the un I'm pretty sure Roadhouse was
just the three of us too. Oh yeah, it was
just Roadhouse, yeah, because it was.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
The last time I think Erica was on a journey
over in Greece or something.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So it feels like two years ago. I feel like
it's been a while.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah, it has.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
However, we are excited to bring you a very special
Thanksgiving episode. So open your mouth, cram in a little turkey,
then craming a little stuffing, then keep cramming in some
doubled eggs, keep it open, put in some candy jams.
Don't stop screaming. Castle Role top it, Austin Favor and
Gorge as we reviewed nineteen eighty nine's blockbuster comedy and
(03:07):
quintessential Thanksgiving classic, Weekend at Bernie's. Directed by Ted Koltcheff,
It stars Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silver, Terry Kaisner, and Catherine
Mary Stewart who has all first names and many.
Speaker 6 (03:21):
Others, but not too many others.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Without further ado, let us pick up the heavenly Mike
and lead us, and we'll lead ourselves into the deep
dark heart of darkness as we talk into our Thanksgiving
nibbles and review Weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So we get at Bernies. You guys, what's what's Poppin'.
It's been a while. I haven't seen this movie since
I was a child, watching it on TBS in the
middle of the day with the TV video edit, and
I know very little from this film in terms of
its quote unquote plot, which makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, the piggyback on that, I don't. I remembered so
little about this film, Like there's the whole mob angle.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Which we'll talk about about that.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, I didn't realize he lived so long into the film,
which something something you brought up online, Josh, that he
was alive for a while.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
There's so many three minutes film, it's crazy. Bernie lived
until at least thirty three minutes into this movie, so
one third of the runtime.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, I mean, I can't say I have any clear
recollection except that I distinctly remembered wiking this movie, yeah,
when I was probably like eleven or twelve and not
really apparently I found nothing darker, sinister at all because
of the presentation of this as just pure I don't
(05:02):
think I probably watched the TV edit. I probably was
watching the full version of it one way or another.
But that said, yeah, almost almost the entire thing was
still a surprise for me because I other than the premise,
I remembered nothing. I did not remember anything. I was
like Jonathan Silverman is in this it turns out wasn't
(05:24):
even the big the big quote unquote actor in this
It was Andrew McCarthy from supposedly the Brat Pack, even
though they all resent that term. So yeah, who knew
it was fun to go into it basically still blind,
but with just the slightest hinge of nostalogia.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Have any of you watched the sequel? I am not.
I have to because I saw a very off comment
on YouTube where the person claimed the sequel was even better.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
That person should probably be drawn into the light. I
know I must have watched it. I know I must have.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
As a medical professional, how long can just a body
maintain its like its composition and like just a state
of nature like that?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Like how I mean Bernie? Bernie would have been rock
hard in like six hours. His flcidity lasts way too
long into the weekend in this film. I mean, it
would have been far less funny if he was, you know,
stiff as aboard, But you know I was. I actually
(06:43):
found the romance between Richard and Gwenn more unbelievable than
Bernie getting around for the entire weekend.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
The medical angle was not the heart was not the
hard pill to swallow for the suspension.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Of disc but I think really interesting about this movie
is it's arguably paramole, but it's it's a terrible like
black comedy from the late eighties and it's still in
the culturals like I after like thirty plus years.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah right, yeah, I mean it's it has somehow withstood
the test of time, even so it might not have
done so. Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
In terms of plot, it's very minimal, as you've already mentioned.
But there are two main characters, Larry and Richard, who
are accountants at a New York They work.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
At an insurance company.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah. Sure, they work the actuarial tables in their insurance company,
I think is what they're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
They discover some discrepancies that they bring to the attention
of the boss, who is uh Bernie.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Lomax legendary, which say what you want to Gordon, He's
no Bernie Lomax.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I might say that Bernie Lomax is slightly Jewish coded.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Based on what.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Just based on being New York City.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah, well I'm involved in that, involved in what involved
in what.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, money issues in New York City A way of
saying it, Well, of the three of us, you're the
only one who can.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Say but kind of a ladies man, kind of a
wealthy uh ne'er do well. He's not quite the most
savory character. I think it's kind of established pretty early
that he his low morals.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I guess, yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
I mean, he's probably fun as long as you're on
the right side of things. But yeah, he's definitely a
djen that you don't want to hang out with you
up to his stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh yeah, but our boys are trying to get a
leg up in the business world by potentially, you know,
making this discovery that's going to save the company a
lot of money. Proofing.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, they're they're they're yeah, they're proving their worth, which
I for one, and I'll bring this up as we
go through. I love that the opening scene establishes what
the story is based on, Like we didn't have to
wait for it. It's literally within five minutes of the
opening you're learning what's going to motivate the rest of
this Yeah. Yeah, this is the kind of movie that
often would have reversed that and we'd have to sit
(09:48):
through like fifteen minutes of nonsense basically before we got
to the inciting incident. But this one's like, fuck all
that we have just put that right in the first
scene where we're learning who the characters even are before
we even know that, we're going to learn what the
conflict is going to be for them, and then we'll
backtrack and do a little bit of like oh and
here's their background. But this way you know what the
(10:10):
plot motivation is going to be without sitting through, Like
it's typical late eighties early nineties like stuff building, what
is there?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah? Whatever?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
This is what we need get to talk about, like
what is this? What is this conception that we have
of like late eighties early nineties New York and how
it's its own thing and you have to establish it
in any movie that's set there, even though presumably when
this came out everybody knew that perception, but every single
thing that has the setting we have to go through
this process of being like, hey, hey, hey, it's New Yawk.
(10:46):
It's like everybody's got to be like in your face
of every possible thing to establish this, like everybody in
America didn't already know what New York is? Like where
we get our perception? Is this why we think of
New York the way we do? Is this the cultural normal?
Like the framework we have for New York is because
of movies and TV that's sat there during this period
(11:09):
that we know.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I mean, it very well could be. I mean, I
don't think I've ever met that character in New York,
but I'm so any of any of.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
These characters, because there's it seems like New York has
basically like five stop characters you're allowed to put into
any situation and like it doesn't matter. Like that's what
this whole thing plays out like basically an extra long
episode of a sitcom that was allowed to be R rated,
like there's now I'm pretty sure if you're dragging a
(11:38):
corpse around and it was on TV, I mean in
like that period mede equivalence of R rated.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I really want to see a Weekend at Bernie's Vampire
Kiss crossover films.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Yeah, same world. It feels like it feels like it
could be the same world.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Don't don't have any ideas they're going to try to
reboot this movie.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Now if they do reboot it, Who's Who's Ernie Now?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's not there's nothing that they're going to add to it.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Sidney is the love interest, obviously, because just for now
she's the gick girl. I mean, like well, or I
mean even down to like the two lead dweebs being
like already an archetypal pairing that happens in this sort
(12:34):
of genre. I'm like, yes, you have to have the
straight man and the goofy guy in this SHERI of
a dynamic no matter what. But this like East Coast
idea of like the more straight laced dude or the
guy who's more uptight or at least more worried overall,
and then his more loose, laid back buddy. But they
(12:55):
work together somehow and our friends somehow, despite that probably
being an probable scenario. I mean I even picked up
like at points in this it wouldn't. It's not a
complete parallel, but like obviously Richard would be Jerry, and
then Larry bounces between being like a confident George in
(13:17):
terms of his like attitude towards everything they do, but
touched with like Kramer's sense of creativity. Well, I don't
know if creativity is the right word, but like Hair
Brains a Buddy film, you know, essentially, and I think
the best I think both the Mask the original one.
Jim Carrey plays heavily on this dynamic in its opening
(13:42):
which actually is very similar to this. If you go
back and watch the original Mask, it's a weirdly similar
kind of setup. Even though they don't say it's in
New York City, they give it another name, but it's
obviously New York City. And then I'll just say it
right now. I think I think Kevin Smith saw this
movie while he was writing Clerks. There's quite a few
small touchstones to me that I will bring up as
(14:04):
we move our way through, but that's all I'll say
about it for the moment.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
This is the modern equivalent of Rosencrans and Guild and Sturn.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
That was the other thing. That's the other.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
They were the Shakespearean buddies.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
It was also apparently okay to wear to wear short suits.
Did anybody see that? Like moving through their lobby, there
are there are men in suits that have knee length hants.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
It was the eighties. I mean the fashion was terrible. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
On online we talked about the plat on plaid suit
that I was wearing.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
I don't understand there's no dress code. You can wear
whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And invented power clashing.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
They take their discovery of uh what appears to be
insurance fraud, the Bernie Lomax, and he's very excited and
to celebrate their discovery, they they they get invited to
his weekend house in the Hampton's.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
For Labor Day. Yeah. Yeah, have you ever any of
you ever been to the Hampton's.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Because he lives across the South Connections. Man. Yeah, oh,
they don't let you in without those.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
It looks awesome. If that's what the Hampton's really like,
that's sweet. I'd love to just go from house to
house party.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
But it's really called the Hampton Island, which I don't
think is a real place.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
It's not. Well, there is somebody a place called Hampton Island.
Hampton Island is off of Georgia. The Hampton's.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, no, the Hampton Yeah, I mean, this is clearly
set in the Hampton's, but it's not a real island.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I mean, and they shot it in North Carolina. I
looked it up. But yeah, I was gonna say, does
this ring true with what Long Islanders are like?
Speaker 6 (15:57):
Is this life of Long Islanders?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
But it turns out that Bernie is part of a
much larger mob based conspiracy. We get some New York
mob action, which I yea loved and I didn't expect,
But apparently it's the huge, like motivating factor of why
the things play out later on.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Right or Yeah, he's somehow embezzling from his company and
they're helping him or something, and they're getting a good.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Scheme. Very unclear. It's very unclear how repeatedly making claims
on a person who's already dead by a person in
the company is both possible and also benefits them off. Yeah,
I'm sure there's a way to make it feels a
little overly complex. From the few times I've looked into
these kind of scams, they're usually not quite that many,
(16:56):
like layers that you have to get through.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah, But in any case, Bernie wants these these waves
taken out because before they can reveal the truth.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah, before they can him, before they can rat him
out and ruin his his ongoing scheme.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I love the hooks of Bernie not just wanting to
have these two young men killed, but also famously sleeping
with the mob boss's girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, apparently living on the edge at all times.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, it always that he can't skirting the knife player.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I mean to the point of her like playing footseat
with his crotch at the same table, and then the
second they are outside the restaurant presumably owned by Veto
the mobster, she's like climbing him as if nobody can
possibly see what's going on. Yeah, I love I love
that everything's pretty much out there on the surface, so
(17:53):
we as viewers don't have to think too much about
anything that's going on. It's let's see, Yeah, I remember
none of these things, yea, make sure. Yeah. Also that
the fact that, like just being inside restaurant, they openly
discuss embezzlement and murder while there's like a thousand people
(18:16):
around them without any apparent compunction or worry. So this
is we have.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
To remember this. It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yeah, good Fellas doesn't even come out yet. Sopranos is
still eighteen years away or whatever, like we didn't know
get away.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
With, We're still we're still blinded back then.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
For the most part. But we also get, of course,
our wonderful introduction to another cringey potential romance, which I
personally thought was a little bit ahead of its time,
Like the like this sort of like awkward again cringe
level humor of their interaction is very like post twenty
(19:00):
ten like, it feels so bad that it doesn't even
seem to fit in the era that it's set in.
Richard and Gwen, Yeah, Richard and Gwen just feels so strange.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
She did get a name, yeah, so she got a
name right away.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
And I'll say that also this movie, I learned everybody's
names in like five minutes. I didn't even have to
think about their names. So that's a lot of movies
from this era.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
But yeah, I mean coming from I'll pretend America at
this time. Sure what she sees in him? Yeah, I
mean it's extremely awkward and constantly lying to her.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
But when you have such counselors as Larry at your behest,
it's no wonder you probably aren't getting ahead in any
particular way because his advice is quick. Ask her out.
On an elevator that I count, it has no fewer
than fourteen people on one elevator, which is above the
capacity any elevator I've ever seen. I suppose New York
(20:03):
might have higher, higher strength ones because of how many
people have to travel up and down.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
But it doesn't like people were thinner back then because
of coke.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
That is true that, I mean, you might have been
able to fit a few more on each lift going up.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Did you know that John Cryer was originally supposed to
be the Andrew McCarthy character.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I read that, but happened. I admit, I don't know
who that is because he was another put like peripheral
brat pack member or something.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
He was in a descriptor. I don't use dusty and
pretty and pink. You have you seen pretty?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, okay, yeah, I mean I'd spend like fifteen years,
but yeah, I've seen it, so okay. So they knew
what type they wanted to put in that role.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
What's interesting is that I still don't feel like he's
the lead character, and yet that's the most famous person.
Apparently they were looking to plug in the most famous
person in the role of ostensibly the comedic sidekick rather
than the guy. Yeah yeah, decided to costume this guy
with his sunglasses hanging off one ear and newspapers rolled
(21:17):
in each of his pockets mismatch plaid suit. Like, I
don't know what they were trying to tell us.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So Bernie goes to his beach house where he tries
to begin He begins planning the murder of to lead,
which it's hilarious when.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's rebuilt later on. I'm not gonna lie. The note
that he writes crashed me up.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Guess they saved that for a late revelation.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, I thought that was pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Instead, a hitman named Polly arrives before the two young
men and then gives Bernie a lethal dose of heroin.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah in the ass. Yeah, it doesn't kill you that quickly.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Make sure you don't like odan under three seconds from
that cleanly as well. I mean, it paints a very
it paints a very efficient picture of how the mob
takes care of problems, Like apparently they just show up
in broad daylight, sticky with a needle, and the job
is done.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You just walk away, poor Bernie, and Bernie dies of it.
Let us what appears to be a self inflicted overdose.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Pretty clever, hard.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Right, I mean, it's not. It doesn't seem completely out
of character or completely impossible. So not a bad cover
if you don't want it to look like if you
don't want it to look like a murder in the
first it's also a little bit it's a little bit
unclear to me exactly why killing only Bernie is the plan.
Like from the mob perspective, don't you want all three
(22:58):
of them dead?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, like they all.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Know what's going on now. Just because they don't know
who arranged it, they still know what was going on.
And if their boss turns up dead of a heroin
overdose over the weekend, I got a feeling that they're
probably gonna take it to someone else. Like, it's not
just gonna go away because you spared the morons who
were too to be part of the scheme.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Details details.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
It's a conflict, I'm saying. It's just it's a conflicting
portrait of the mafia, and like how efficient they are
about the things.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So Larry and Richard, Yes, they find the body and
instead of immediately calling the cops, they kind of puts
around for a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Fine, until the party goers started arriving, just walk in.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Have any you have ever been in a party situation
like that, Kellen, I mean, you're probably the most likely
to walk into I AM.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
With the dead body here. Yeah, I mean it's a sious.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I feel like Kellen is the most likely to have
this play out in real life.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I mean that that's said if I've walked into a
party that had a dead body at it. I've never
once learned nobody else either, nobody has nobody we appointed
one out.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I mean, Alex has definitely been in a situation. Alex
has probably caused the situation.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
His expertise here would be much. I mean, I've been
in places where parties have spontaneously occurred long ago. I
don't know that it was ever quite this abrupt that
nobody even bothered checking. It was just like, well, we
all showed up here. It is maybe a few times.
So that was like college when like it was just
(24:50):
kind of accepted that if it was an open door policy,
if if you didn't have you know, Yeah, I mean,
and it's the Hampton's. I guess this is just how
how the people live out there.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, Josh lived in a place called the Hockey House,
and I always like there was always just big parties
that random people would show up to.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean, I guess it does kind of work.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
I don't know if it works with actual adults. I
don't know if it works with actual adults.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
It is a college thing, for sure, Yeah, yeah, at
any given time, I don't know all these yuppies that
would be the correct term for these people or we
need like, is there a term for like?
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Is there? I feel like there should be a better
term for a rich yuppie because it feels like when
I'm thinking back to the eighties and that term, it
doesn't imply that they're inherently wealthy. It's just like a
lifestyle they're emulating, as opposed to them being rich. On
top of that, it seems like there must be a
more specific term.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I view Larry and Richard as yuppies because they're striving
to be upperly immobile but not quite there yet, Like
they're trying to live that lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
He just rich then I guess, yes, like the rich
I mean, yes, the rich oblivious is going to be.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
That's kind of beach house in the Hampton's. I mean
he's doing okay, I.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Mean obviously, this entire movie is really just a subtle
commentary on the on the vapidity of the late eighties
yuppie lifestyle. That you can have an entire party with
a dead guy and not even notice it. That's that's
that's what Caine was really talking about when he made
this movie.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I don't know, everyone interacts to him and just like
accepts his total non response.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That lady groping him for the cocaine doesn't care at all.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
That tracks I feel like I think the implication is
that everybody's already on enough drugs, or that it's not
really registering just where anybody else.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Is it does It does kind of look like a
fun party though.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, at this point, I want a prequel where I
want to see what I want to see, a backstory
of here's.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
The thing, see see. We don't need to write see.
Josh and I were discussing how we would write, how
we would write a legacy equal now that only that
only acknowledges the first movie and the first half of
the second.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Zero.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
But you may be onto something justin it would actually
be more fun to see the life of Bernie before
this occurred and how it got to this level. Or
we can do both. We can really, we can pitch both.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
High no remake prequel only Yeah, I would. I would
watch that movie because the.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Bernie the Sequel reboot, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
The high highs of Bernie's coch coal orgies in the
Hamptons would be hilarious, and.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
If we want to, we can touch in on the
things that led Also Richard and Larry to their unusual positions,
but somehow thinking they can pull off sitcoms shenanigans left
and right without anybody knowing before it's proven to them
that they in fact can do just that.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
That's they can't do it.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
They can't.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I mean the.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Richard's Richard's parents family house. That's just straight up like
a Seinfeld sketch. There's nothing, there's nothing about that that
doesn't work perfectly with him or Friends. I really think
a lot of this feels like Friends but dark.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
That's yeah, a twinge of of the darkness here well.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
And that's some extreme morbidity as it goes on.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It's interesting how basically the dead body joke carries the
last sixty minutes. It's literally the same joke as they
can play it again and again, and I thought it
entertain Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
H's the repetition of absurdity makes it funnier the longer
ghost when it's the family guy paradox or like the
I think it wasn't Mad Graining himself, but someone on
The Simpsons was like, yeah, the key is to like
repeat it, so you like go over the hill on
it being funny into annoying and then into like total
(29:24):
absurdity was a joke for them. They like. Their example
was the bit where Homer, you know, steps up a
rake and gets nailed in the face by the handle,
and then it just happens for like a minute straight
and it turns out he's in like a field of rakes.
So it just keeps occurring over and over again, and
(29:45):
you can't eventually stop laughing at how stupid it is.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
My favorite part of this movie is when Richard and
Glenn are kissing on the beach and then washes up
the side. It's adorable.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Could we also addressed? I just want to see if
anybody else has any theories. What the hell is with
I mean, it's again the eighties architecture. Whatever, What the
hell is Bernie's house like structured.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Like it's got idiot, Yeah, it.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Looks like a half finished construction project, and it's got
this weird, like I don't even know how like thing
that overtops the whole house.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
It's it's weird.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
It looks it's like a it's like a bad James
Bond Villain's escaped.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
It's like an overly modern architectural design, but it doesn't
look very good.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Yeah, No, it's like brutal.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I can't believe he was allowed to do that with
the zoning ordnance on Hampton There's no way, there's.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
No way, I think the real Hamptons would allow you
to do He's got this concrete monstrosity out here on
the waterfront. It's going to impede the view of everybody.
Also like forgetting, and this is a This is a
testament to how well both my childhood memory doesn't hold
(31:12):
up and how good they were with their scoring. I
swore to God that this one happened in the Caribbean.
As as a child, I was convinced they went from
New York City down to the Caribbean, and that's where
all of this action basically doesn't part of the sequel
(31:33):
is there. So maybe my kid brain like put them
together like I did as a kid. I'm sure, I
am sure. I don't remember anything specific just like this one,
but I know that I did so this like quasi
reggae they've got playing in the back right, Yeah, does
this perfect job of Like I guess this is supposed
(31:55):
to be an island paradise. But so the other thing
to address is how wild the A. D R. Ing
is on every outdoor scene that this movie has, Like
if the camera is not a foot in front of
their face, it is very clear that they are just
looping in dialogue recorded in the studio on top of
the footage they have. Because it's like this ambient voice
(32:16):
that doesn't have any directionality to it, and it's so
clean and crisp with no background sound going on, that
they must have made very little effort to record it
on site and just went, like one of the classics,
we can fix that in post. We're not gonna go
out there and try to record it because it's so goofy.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
No, no one's gonna no one's gonna ing sound the
audio for Weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
We're not cruising for Best Sound Editing Oscars today.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
You Know, one of the questions I had is I
was watching you know, clearly Bernie Lowman.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Transits of life as where where's Bernie Now?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Did Tony Kaiser, the actor who played Bernie, did he
play the dead body the entire time?
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I wonder, Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Think it's like, I think it's fifty to fifty. I
think there's I think on the indoor stuff, I think
it's usually the actor as long as nothing horribly physical
is happening to him, because obviously some of the ways
that that it behaves there has to be a person,
like the off the deck like that, you can be
(33:31):
a dummy from the yeah, or like downstairs or something,
but like when he needs to land in a way
or like hit someone or something, that's obviously that's just
the actor doing. But all credit, it is kind of
hard to tell when it shifts between them. They did
a pretty good job splicing stuff, so.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
This one had better special effects than basket.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Case effects than a number of the movies we have watched.
This still did a better job of stitching together a
believe able visuals then they, so we get we can
also don't forget Bernie. Bernie can also hear his telephone
ringing from the beach outside his house. Somehow, it's like
(34:12):
the loudest telephone on the island.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
The character's motivations lead them away from the right thing
to do, which is reporting Bernie's death.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So we have Larry wants to court win, right was
that Richard Richard Richard? Yeah, And Larry just wants to
he wants he wants to keep the good times.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Larry is a good time guy.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
He doesn't mean.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
To be fair.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
He's going to be dead on Saturday, the same as
on Friday. You might as well enjoy Labor Day weekend.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Yeah, this is where again I'm saying he's got a
very Randall Graves kind of attitude. Oh yeah, Clerk's it
kind of feels like he might be a little of
a prototype for that.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Oh yeah, just be like, let's just.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Go with it, Dante, what's up? Whatever?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Can we pretend that he's not that?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Speaking of Clerks, we have a moment in which the
mafia boss's girlfriend arrived at and then proceeds to have
sex with the corpse of Burnie, and Bernie apparently lays
down the pipe quite well, because she walks away pretty
pleased with the encounter.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Yeah, just exactly like Clerks.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
How they commented, he was like getting more asked after that.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Very uch, very nonchalantly. They are by the stone like
they're not pleased with it. Also not like that put out, Yeah,
put out.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So how does this work though? Does he die with
an erection or is this something like I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
It's just it's the only part of his body that
Rigamorti supplies.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
That was the only one that was the only one
that stiffened up.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
The rest of his body is limp because of his dick.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Yeah, yeah, it sucked all the blood into it.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
And Clerks, the pretext is he dies masturbating in the
bathroom or is this he doesn't seem to have an
erection when he gets shot with heroin?
Speaker 1 (36:30):
No, in fact, that really shouldn't give you an erection.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
No, thank god Kevin Smith tied up that weird decided
to make his version of things.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I couldn't stand the plot hole weakened the Bernie. So yes,
the retroacts. I have to.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Make my version of this so much version of this
so much better.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Otherwise the realism of Clerks won't shine through.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
Yeah it will. It will always shatter at this juncture. Also,
those guys, the guys are way too casual about touching
other people's drugs and money. Yeah, they like find very
sub things and immediately pick them up and look at them, like,
come on, you know how at least a little bit
(37:20):
of forensics works. You're supposed to be genuine New Yorkers.
You don't just be like, oh, what's that, Neil, You've
got there and pick it up.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, it's the corpse sex that actually sets a lot
of the plot in motion because one of the mobsters.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
There's nothing in this movie that doesn't need to be well,
except for the.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Richard's Except except for Richard's weird foray with when at
his parents house. That's the only part that is really
no relevance to the plot.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I don't think you're wrong though, Other that, like almost
every event, every scene in this contributes to the going
forward of this there's very little, like there's no b
plot going up.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
One of the mafia guys witnesses minions the menu. One
of the minions witnesses, you know, the fact that Bernie
and the mob's girlfriend is having sex, which leads to
the false impression that Bernie is still alive, which requires
the assassin to come back to the island to take
care of the job.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Yeah, it's very it's very smart setup for wars Mannikins.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
It cuts to the next day and we see that
Richard or Richard creates like a.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Larry Larry. Larry's Larry is always the one doing the
stupider thing of the always there Larry's always the good.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Larry creates rigs like a police system. He's waving to
further the illusion that Bernie is still alive. That's where
it starts to become pretty funny, actually manipulations.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
Yes, we're getting into the surreal. Once we reached this
part of it, they veered off the rails.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
This also begins to lead to the discovery of the
random recordings of Bernie's effort to have the two men killed.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Is that correct? That is connected to that he accidentally
recorded it on his his answering machine. Because if you
don't remember, your phone used to have a cassette tape
in it. I would record everything, Yeah, have a flashback.
Could be a lot harder to make this movie. Well,
(40:00):
now your phone would just be reporting you regardless. So
they now understand that they were going to be killed here,
but well not an around. Yeah, but now if Bernie
was around, So now they think they got to keep
it going because that'll prevent them from being murders.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
See, And that's that's a difference I've forgotten. There was
a little bit more motivation going at some point because
at some point earlier in the night, literally even Larry's like,
we're going to do this for like thirty minutes, just
so we can do some stuff and then we'll call
the cops. It'll be fine. The plan when it sufferts
off is not see how long we can keep this going.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Oh yeah, yeah, we need to do this for.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
A limited period of time, and then once that windows passed,
we can totally come clean. Because obviously this is an extreme, absurd,
messy situation. They're not really going to get much trouble.
They're just going to be held up with like red
tape and filling out reports.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
You you might have some fun first. Absolutely, I give
you guy Burnie me if you ever needed to.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Oh yeah, well we already knew.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Justin you got to discuss the suicide note.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I didn't write any notes down, but it is essentially
a suicide note.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
Essentially suicide.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
It is a murdered suicide. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Essentially reveals a plot between Larry and Richard that involved
what Larry's sex change operations.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
To puzzle enough money from the company for his sex
change before they can run away together.
Speaker 7 (41:36):
Because this stuff was hilarious back yeah, and uh, I
love the fact that Andrew really does get caught up
in the idea that uh about.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
That a problem for him.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
His reputation is going to be ruined.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
Like this is somehow already out there in the world
and there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
This is a timely film. This you know, could have
been written last week.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
Sure. Yeah, it's a great it's a great snapshot of
any day.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
At this point in the film, Like, it's very much
like the same as as mentioned earlier, where like they
try to pretend that Bernie is alive and also get
off the island, but everything kind of backfires on him.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
So it's like the same joke as mentioned, like repeated
over and over and over again. It is, but it
finds it. Despite that, it's it's still entertaining. Yeah, my
favorite part is the little kid burying.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
Uh up.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Yeah, that little kid, by the way I looked this up,
grows up to direct the sequel to the Borat movie.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah, Jonathan, his name is Jason Woolner, and he directs
the Borat sequel.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Oh wow, I mean and Andrew McCarthy goes on to
direct many episodes of television after he gets out of acting.
A few years after this, he basically becomes at a
pretty well respected for hire TV director.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Wow, yeah, I wont what happened to him.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
Yeah, he just went behind the scenes instead of saying
with acting after actually not even that I wasna say
after his divorce, but that doesn't happen until like two
thousand and five. So he gets a pretty good gig
doing TV stuff. He did Lawn Order. He did still
do an acting role in one of the Law and
Orders for like a couple episodes. Him and Vincent Denafrio
(43:39):
famously had some sort of a tiff going on that
prevented him from being part of the show for a while,
which doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Ted Kochev went on to not direct with Ken at
Bernie's Too.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
No, the I think the I believe the writer went
on to direct his own material for the sequel. He
couldn't even.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Robert Klain.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
This was his, this was his project, this was his
passion peace.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Eventually, though, the secret comes out when when sees Bernie
walking or I guess Larry and Richard carrying Bernie's body
on the beach and they have to reveal to her
that he's he's.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Dead at just one more lie. Richard just keeps.
Speaker 4 (44:32):
Filing him on.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
They bring Larry and they bring Bernie back into his
house where they where he gets.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Shot by the mafia guy a couple of times.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
Is that the name of the guy is the name
of the assassin. Yeah, but not before. But not before.
This was the point I was going to bring. They
came up earlier. Several other people attempt to enter. Yeah, yeah,
largely unexplained, and both Larry and Richard assume they are
other mob hitmen sent down them and comically work their
(45:09):
efforts and what can only be described as like a
Marxian the brothers not carnal level of competency, and I
was under the impression initially that they were merely hired
hands of some sort around the place that were there
to do like landscaping.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Or the first guy. The first guy was like the
person that was doing some work for Bernie, but he
didn't like it, so he threw them out, and the
guy I wanted to be paid.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
The second person was unex presumptively some type of work. Yeah,
just their wrong time, wrong place. None of them were
actually hit men, but they were just set up earlier
in the movie in like a single quick scene so
that you could establish they were not in fact a threat.
They would be missing tru Oh did we meet the
second guy before I maybe this is one of those
(46:06):
like blink and you miss it.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Maybe he was maybe he was on the dock or something.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
I don't know, right, but like in any case, he
comes in quick sequence. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure what
he took out was actually a small like a belt
tree saw is actually the weapon that he had, which
would be an awful murder weapon. But when I saw
when I saw it, I recognized this something I have
(46:32):
used before. I'm like, okay, he's just literally here to
do landscaping, which then led me to the belief that perhaps,
again another thing I had not remembered about this was like, wait,
does Richard accidentally kill several people trying to protect himself
and Larry from I didn't remember if they were supposed
to be dead or alive when they are hauled away
(46:53):
and put inside the pant they were just Yeah. But
as you will medically attest, I'm not just a serious
head injury more than two hours, I believe is like
a massive concussion that is probably going to be debilitating
for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
They're gonna get early on. We really needed a Pineapple
Express style fight, Yeah, we didn't. We didn't get it.
Speaker 4 (47:20):
I mean, has this has this cuts completely Benny Hill loose.
We get a few things that are I mean like
it feels like stooges. It feels also at certain quite
a few points, I almost just feels like a stage
play until they start doing stuff like going out on
the boat to escape. So much of it happens in
(47:42):
the same beam space as It's like you could easily
stage this whole thing, and it's just good sight gags,
which is something you need to have in theater comedy
because well, if you're not Oscar Wild, you're gonna instead
throw pies in people's faces. So trying to do a
musical yet have they Oh, it's began telling you a lot,
(48:03):
a lot we could work with. Also, like when once
they start dragging him behind the boat is when it
like crests into the not where the sublimely surreal realm.
There's nothing, there's nothing left of reality for us to
hold on to anyways, so let's live with what it's doing.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I don't know how to breach the fact that there's
so much sillyness going on. How do we want to
get to the end of the film.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Bernie is still dead? Is apprehended. Everything seems like it's
going to be good, and then we get one last
treat where it was the paramedics. Yeah, like Bernie, Bernie's
Bernie's gurney, and then he limply falls into the sand
(48:54):
behind him and gives them one last year.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
When invite Richard to stay with her family. So we
have a nice conclusion to the reasons here.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Yeah, it doesn't seem like he's done anything more charming,
like in any way endearing to her. She's part of
his conspiracy now, just.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Like in Clerks Larry, like the the friendship, the codependent
friendship breaks the part and they both have healthier relationships afterwards.
Speaker 4 (49:26):
Sure, as long as you don't follow the sequels.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, that's true. He really backslides on that. That personal growth.
Speaker 4 (49:35):
Yeah, I mean to except like if I was just
glad we got to the other and went, I don't
feel like one character grew, Adam, that's what you want.
There was no resolution because there was no real conflict
for them as a personal level. It was just it
was just how to get out of a situation they
were in. It was like perfect, I got it, Man
(49:55):
Seinfeld or any other nineties You're like good not changed.
They learned zero things about what they did wrong, and
now they're back to doing the same thing again.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
In I hope Bernie is presumably buried in the sands
forever by that asshole.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
As a young boy.
Speaker 4 (50:13):
Because no one follows up I disappeared.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
We eventually watched the sequel, plind that it's not true.
Speaker 4 (50:19):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Should this be our Thanksgiving special where we watch the
next one for the following things.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Given, we again at Bernie's. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah,
let's make this our annual tradition. Celebrate the pilgrim sitting
down with Squanto watch weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 4 (50:38):
As we all know they did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
This this film is oddly persisted in the cultural zeitgeist.
I mean, how big of a hit was this back
in eighty nine?
Speaker 4 (50:49):
It doubled its budget, but that's not saying a whole lot.
But again, it's nineteen eighty nine and prices are substantially
lower back then. So this budgeted about fifteen million and
made about thirty million in the box office, which form
a comedy in that era is probably pretty decent, I
would guess.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
I'm sure. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (51:09):
Despite despite critics like hating it and panning it. So
no surprise, there was no no charm found in these Yeah,
in these escapades back then.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
What why do you think it's part of the zeitgeist.
Was it just that like it was absolutely on TV
and people.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Just watched it when they are like drunk or stone
or tired. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
I think that's part of it. That's probably, that's probably
part if.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
You want to, if you want a actually pretty funny example.
At the Republican National Convention this past summer, Ron DeSantis
was referring to Biden and said that America cannot afford
for more years of a weekend at Bernie's. I mean,
(51:53):
that's fair.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Fair that that proves that it's like, that's at least
a reference that seemed like it might hit with enough people.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That's fair, that's fair. I don't want to give the
Santa City props, but I get what he's saying. That's
a pretty funny joke.
Speaker 4 (52:11):
Yeah, I guess he gets that one.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
It's weird, like you wouldn't think this like the like
B movie comedy would would have set off such a.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
You know, in the culture, but it did, right, one
of those Comedy Central movies, because like I think of
the movie, the film Porky's. There's no reason why I
should remember Porky's or Porky should have any kind of culture,
some reason people should.
Speaker 1 (52:40):
Still be watching Porky Yeah, or like movies have come
out since then, like why are you still watching that?
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Another movie that I think about a lot, like it
takes up a lot of my like mental space for
no other reason than it was shown constantly was the
film PCU.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
Do you remember PCU?
Speaker 4 (52:55):
Yeah, okay, Jeremy Piven, David Spade College, Yeah, okay. It's
in the same vein as a lot of those things.
I don't remember anybody else. I remember George Clinton's in
it right at the end.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
We're not going to protest as they start to protest.
Speaker 4 (53:18):
It's one of those movies that I remember seeing and
I remember virtually nothing about except that whatever a decade later,
looking at probably Entourage or something something else, Jeremy something else,
Jeremy Piven.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
Fabreau acting bro Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (53:37):
Yeah, correct, just going did Jeremy Piven age backwards? He
looks older than he does when he's in Entourage. It's
like a grown up lawyer in Las Vegas. He looks
younger then, and it doesn't look like he had any surgery.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Looks watched the money when he guest started in Seinfeld, he.
Speaker 4 (53:57):
Looks even older.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah, and he's like Benjamin Button.
Speaker 4 (54:04):
Well, I was gonna say, or like Merlin and that
bit wrote the Sword of the Stone of like the
age is backwards. Literally he was born at an old
age and he just worked his way backwards. It's bananas. Hmm,
that's true.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
This was also had Top.
Speaker 4 (54:23):
This was the first movie where somehow the only time
I've noticed it. But then I started thinking back and going,
wait a minute, that is a recurrent thing. There seems
to be what I fully describe as an eighties girl
accent that happens in these movies that it is really redundant.
(54:44):
It happens in so many movies. It's like this weirdly
flat kind of a what then the female leads almost
always end up having it doesn't sound I know, I
know you're I know you're referring to but yeah, because
girl thing or any of this, it's not a valley girl. No. Yeah,
it's a strangely flattened tone.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
They alter it wasn't valley girl like later in terms
of like it's like mid nineties, right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (55:13):
Yeah, yeah, I mean with clueless being the obvious. Yeah,
really taking off of.
Speaker 1 (55:19):
That, there was a there was a way of talking,
and I don't know where that came from or what
happened to it, right, I.
Speaker 4 (55:25):
Mean every era has some of those hallmarks, but it's
the first time about the eighties I've noticed that specific. Like,
I think that is pretty predominant. Like I still thought
of Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street, or like they
all have the strange like is that supposed to be
It's not supposed to be a Midwest excellent because they
give it to an East Coaster too, So it's just like,
(55:48):
is this just the way they were training women to do,
to use their voices and film at the time.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
No, I mean presumably Gwen's family is from Long Island, right,
shouldn't sound at least Yeah no.
Speaker 4 (56:01):
No, not at all. I mean at least the other
characters vaguely sound like they're from New York. Yeah, it
kind of fits with what they're doing. Yeah, but no,
she has this strange flat white girl ex.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
Now on the Heavenly Mandates Drunk Uncle holiday scale, which
has been used since the Dawn of Man a discovery
of fire. To quantify the relative awkwardness of family gathering
during the holidays, we will endeavor to rape this film
on a scale one to ten, him being quote, thank god,
uncle uncle Joe found the schnops early and passed out.
(56:37):
We can all watch the Lions game in peace now,
one being oh god, uncle Joe is trying to explain
why feminism ruined women.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
To toddlers.
Speaker 2 (56:50):
Or fives being average, or quote, oh uncle Joe, Oh cool.
Uncle Joe has a new girlfriend, so he's trying to
be still make a good impression.
Speaker 1 (57:01):
It sounds vaguely specific. My fellow mandates ranked this film.
Speaker 4 (57:12):
I love having a I love having an arbitrary scale.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
So it's it's uh, it's number of Joes or whatever
you want. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
I didn't even catch what the unit is being the best,
watch being the worst, by being the middle, however you
want to QUI the film.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
I didn't know what. I didn't know what the noun was.
I don't know either.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
I literally fell asleep and we got to do this
until like five minutes before we started recording.
Speaker 1 (57:43):
This is the best. Should remind you that we were recorded.
I can go first, A man So the Weekend at
Bernie's is uh, you know, definitely not a good movie,
but thoroughly entertaining throughout despite basically them beating a dead body,
(58:04):
which was literally the joke for sixty minutes, it has,
you know, exhibited a weird cultural staying power. So I
think if you just you know, view this movie in isolation,
probably four out of ten with the cultural staying power.
And you know, we're still talking about this movie thirty
(58:25):
plus years later, six out of ten. And I didn't
want to use AI this time. So I wanted to
see if there were any Weekend at Bernie's poems out there,
and there are good. This is a Weekend at Bernie's
(58:45):
back of a postcard. So this is the poem that
would be written on the back of the postcard with
you know, a picture of the Hampton's on the front
that you're sending to your friends and family. It's by an,
It's by initials SG from the website Rhyme and Reason
Poetry Mats film reviews.
Speaker 4 (59:05):
Oh well, thank you for citing your source very thoroughly.
Speaker 1 (59:09):
As you can see in this picture, we're all hanging
out having fun in the sun. We just took the
Ferry and shared a high five. All happy and mary
and very alive. I can't understate how alive we all feel,
especially Bernie. It's almost surreal. Wish you were here, but
(59:30):
there's really no need. Yes, don't mind Bernie, he has
a nosebleed.
Speaker 4 (59:40):
I'm glad you were able to find that.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
That exists.
Speaker 4 (59:47):
For anyone who wants to see it's next. I didn't
put any effort into the final part of this because
I wasn't even sure how we were doing this scale,
so we never are alas. No particular ren app would
suit this, I don't think, although probably somewhere out there.
Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Nobody's done a weekend in Bernie's song.
Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
I bet I bet there are, or at least, as
you say, a few dropped references, because it is still
somehow relevant. But a last too much work for me
sounds that I will say this movie is everything I
don't remember it to be. I, as discussed by all
of us, don't actually have any specific recollections about this movie,
(01:00:33):
except that I know I saw it many times and
I always found it funny at that time, so it
leaves a favorable impression and then disappears like breath Mint,
But that said, revisiting it, I was still pleasantly surprised
throughout nothing about it particularly struck me as dated. Beyond
the obvious cheesiness of the era that it came out in,
(01:00:56):
which I would expect it to be. Anyways, it didn't
feel like anything was even that off color or that
weird and how bad and say a little over half
the jokes hit and they come pretty fast. It's a
pretty fast paced movie for how stupid it is. And
it also doesn't pretend to be anything other than the
stupid movie that it is. It's not really putting on
(01:01:17):
any airs about anything. It's just letting you set it
up and then be like, how many ways can we
drop this body in a way that you might find
funny and like for me, didn't even involve the body
at the end, Like the phone cord fight with Paulie
at the end was one of the pinnacles of like
physical humor that I've seen in quite a while. So
(01:01:39):
that being said, I'd say we're hitting a sweet spot
where Uncle Joe is still looking to leave a positive impression,
but he's getting just loose enough with enough schnops that
he's going to hit that point where it's going to
be funny to see how he ruins it. So I'm
gonna say I would still of this probably, Uh, this
(01:02:01):
is probably a seven out of ten for me. Okay,
this is this is the kind of enjoyable stupidity that
I can get into. Probably not something that I would
want to see every few months, but once a year
I can still get into it, for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Just watching the Uncle Joe train wreck, and it's kind
of fun, kind of.
Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
Fun, and I only have to see it once a year.
Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
According to IMDb, there are fifty nine films in which
necrophilia play a prominent point in.
Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
Terms of the plot.
Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
That's fifteen, yeah, I mean say it.
Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Weekends and Birdies is ranked fifty three on the all
time list of necrophilia based plot films. Out of how
many out of fifty nine it's not even in the
top Yeah, it's one of the Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:02:57):
Guys, I got an idea for our next season.
Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Clerks in this one should easily be in the top five.
It's also the only PG thirteen film.
Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
Yeah, I that that's the case.
Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
I imagine most of the other films in that list
are not that fun to watch. No, pretty hard, R.
Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
Don't mean that one way or the other. Just need
a hard r.
Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
So if you're looking for a family film that features
necrophilia and on the better end of that spectrum, watch
Weekend at Bernie's. I ranked this film a obligatory ten
out of ten.
Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
Out of ten, you shouldn't even mean you.
Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Should tell Erica that this had a much higher rating
than Watching the Woods. It is better than watching the Woods.
That will give it that as well.
Speaker 4 (01:03:57):
I think objectively it is.
Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
This was a fun movie.
Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Reminds me of a Yeah, it was a childhood experience
that I had totally forgotten about and it was really
nice to go back and revisit it.
Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
It's very talked about doing it for like two years. Yeah, yeah,
I made it.
Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Maybe want to see the sequel and it wasn't a
bad way to waste an evening.
Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
So can you watch the sequel and tell us that
it's worthwhile? Yeah, I'll watch it.
Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
One, two, three minits of palms.
Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
It's dank, straight up
Hi everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
This is justin the hoary Urchin, and before we start
our show, i'd like to remind you to like and
subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. Please give us a ranking,
preferably all the stars, and give us a view, preferably glowing.
We'd also like to talk to all of our listeners
and answer any questions that you all might have, For example,
why do this or for what purpose?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Or will Erica ever find love? Well?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Email us at the Heavenly Mandate all one word, the
Heavenly Mandate at gmail dot com. That's the Heavenly Mandate
at gmail dot com, and maybe you can be that
special someone Erica has been looking for. Without further ado,
onto the show.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
It's bad news.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
It's table news. Watch up our group of men. That's fine,
you saved me.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I have nothing to.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Offer to you to Welcome to the Welcome to the
Heavily Mandate.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Welcome to the Heavily Mandates. We have We have descended
from our mountain abode, momentarily forsaken our kung fu studies.
To be still our unique perspectives on film. To the
beleaguered and wretched people of the earth. I am justin
the hoary Urchin joining me today is the drunken master himself.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Kellen. How are you doing?
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Man?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Quite quite well. I have an almost deathlike zen approach
to the coming years, not that that means anything, but
specifically for this film, I think I think we can
appreciate a bit of drunken mastery going up throughout the
you're choosing to review this Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Josh, the Deadliest of Venoms is here? How are you doing, sir?
Limp Flacid?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Oh all right?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Erica, Lady Desstab the Black Widow is Max and relaxing
behind the Nova Mall and Novay Michigan. Sadly she can't
join us today.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We should, we should, We should just have an AI
cloned version.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Yeah, We've discussed this many times. It's it's possible. Also though,
all said, note, is this the first time we've ever
recorded with the original three since like Episode three? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
No, No, we did Cube three of Us Yeah, and
we also did the un I'm pretty sure Roadhouse was
just the three of us too. Oh yeah, it was
just Roadhouse, yeah, because it was.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
The last time I think Erica was on a journey
over in Greece or something.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So it feels like two years ago. I feel like
it's been a while.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah, it has.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
However, we are excited to bring you a very special
Thanksgiving episode. So open your mouth, cram in a little turkey,
then craming a little stuffing, then keep cramming in some
doubled eggs, keep it open, put in some candy jams.
Don't stop screaming. Castle Role top it, Austin Favor and
Gorge as we reviewed nineteen eighty nine's blockbuster comedy and
(03:07):
quintessential Thanksgiving classic, Weekend at Bernie's. Directed by Ted Koltcheff,
It stars Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silver, Terry Kaisner, and Catherine
Mary Stewart who has all first names and many.
Speaker 6 (03:21):
Others, but not too many others.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Without further ado, let us pick up the heavenly Mike
and lead us, and we'll lead ourselves into the deep
dark heart of darkness as we talk into our Thanksgiving
nibbles and review Weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So we get at Bernies. You guys, what's what's Poppin'.
It's been a while. I haven't seen this movie since
I was a child, watching it on TBS in the
middle of the day with the TV video edit, and
I know very little from this film in terms of
its quote unquote plot, which makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, the piggyback on that, I don't. I remembered so
little about this film, Like there's the whole mob angle.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Which we'll talk about about that.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, I didn't realize he lived so long into the film,
which something something you brought up online, Josh, that he
was alive for a while.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
There's so many three minutes film, it's crazy. Bernie lived
until at least thirty three minutes into this movie, so
one third of the runtime.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, I mean, I can't say I have any clear
recollection except that I distinctly remembered wiking this movie, yeah,
when I was probably like eleven or twelve and not
really apparently I found nothing darker, sinister at all because
of the presentation of this as just pure I don't
(05:02):
think I probably watched the TV edit. I probably was
watching the full version of it one way or another.
But that said, yeah, almost almost the entire thing was
still a surprise for me because I other than the premise,
I remembered nothing. I did not remember anything. I was
like Jonathan Silverman is in this it turns out wasn't
(05:24):
even the big the big quote unquote actor in this
It was Andrew McCarthy from supposedly the Brat Pack, even
though they all resent that term. So yeah, who knew
it was fun to go into it basically still blind,
but with just the slightest hinge of nostalogia.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Have any of you watched the sequel? I am not.
I have to because I saw a very off comment
on YouTube where the person claimed the sequel was even better.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
That person should probably be drawn into the light. I
know I must have watched it. I know I must have.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
As a medical professional, how long can just a body
maintain its like its composition and like just a state
of nature like that?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Like how I mean Bernie? Bernie would have been rock
hard in like six hours. His flcidity lasts way too
long into the weekend in this film. I mean, it
would have been far less funny if he was, you know,
stiff as aboard, But you know I was. I actually
(06:43):
found the romance between Richard and Gwenn more unbelievable than
Bernie getting around for the entire weekend.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
The medical angle was not the heart was not the
hard pill to swallow for the suspension.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Of disc but I think really interesting about this movie
is it's arguably paramole, but it's it's a terrible like
black comedy from the late eighties and it's still in
the culturals like I after like thirty plus years.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah right, yeah, I mean it's it has somehow withstood
the test of time, even so it might not have
done so. Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
In terms of plot, it's very minimal, as you've already mentioned.
But there are two main characters, Larry and Richard, who
are accountants at a New York They work.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
At an insurance company.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah. Sure, they work the actuarial tables in their insurance company,
I think is what they're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
They discover some discrepancies that they bring to the attention
of the boss, who is uh Bernie.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Lomax legendary, which say what you want to Gordon, He's
no Bernie Lomax.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I might say that Bernie Lomax is slightly Jewish coded.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Based on what.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Just based on being New York City.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah, well I'm involved in that, involved in what involved
in what.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, money issues in New York City A way of
saying it, Well, of the three of us, you're the
only one who can.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Say but kind of a ladies man, kind of a
wealthy uh ne'er do well. He's not quite the most
savory character. I think it's kind of established pretty early
that he his low morals.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I guess, yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
I mean, he's probably fun as long as you're on
the right side of things. But yeah, he's definitely a
djen that you don't want to hang out with you
up to his stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh yeah, but our boys are trying to get a
leg up in the business world by potentially, you know,
making this discovery that's going to save the company a
lot of money. Proofing.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, they're they're they're yeah, they're proving their worth, which
I for one, and I'll bring this up as we
go through. I love that the opening scene establishes what
the story is based on, Like we didn't have to
wait for it. It's literally within five minutes of the
opening you're learning what's going to motivate the rest of
this Yeah. Yeah, this is the kind of movie that
often would have reversed that and we'd have to sit
(09:48):
through like fifteen minutes of nonsense basically before we got
to the inciting incident. But this one's like, fuck all
that we have just put that right in the first
scene where we're learning who the characters even are before
we even know that, we're going to learn what the
conflict is going to be for them, and then we'll
backtrack and do a little bit of like oh and
here's their background. But this way you know what the
(10:10):
plot motivation is going to be without sitting through, Like
it's typical late eighties early nineties like stuff building, what
is there?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah? Whatever?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
This is what we need get to talk about, like
what is this? What is this conception that we have
of like late eighties early nineties New York and how
it's its own thing and you have to establish it
in any movie that's set there, even though presumably when
this came out everybody knew that perception, but every single
thing that has the setting we have to go through
this process of being like, hey, hey, hey, it's New Yawk.
(10:46):
It's like everybody's got to be like in your face
of every possible thing to establish this, like everybody in
America didn't already know what New York is? Like where
we get our perception? Is this why we think of
New York the way we do? Is this the cultural normal?
Like the framework we have for New York is because
of movies and TV that's sat there during this period
(11:09):
that we know.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I mean, it very well could be. I mean, I
don't think I've ever met that character in New York,
but I'm so any of any of.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
These characters, because there's it seems like New York has
basically like five stop characters you're allowed to put into
any situation and like it doesn't matter. Like that's what
this whole thing plays out like basically an extra long
episode of a sitcom that was allowed to be R rated,
like there's now I'm pretty sure if you're dragging a
(11:38):
corpse around and it was on TV, I mean in
like that period mede equivalence of R rated.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I really want to see a Weekend at Bernie's Vampire
Kiss crossover films.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Yeah, same world. It feels like it feels like it
could be the same world.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Don't don't have any ideas they're going to try to
reboot this movie.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Now if they do reboot it, Who's Who's Ernie Now?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's not there's nothing that they're going to add to it.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Sidney is the love interest, obviously, because just for now
she's the gick girl. I mean, like well, or I
mean even down to like the two lead dweebs being
like already an archetypal pairing that happens in this sort
(12:34):
of genre. I'm like, yes, you have to have the
straight man and the goofy guy in this SHERI of
a dynamic no matter what. But this like East Coast
idea of like the more straight laced dude or the
guy who's more uptight or at least more worried overall,
and then his more loose, laid back buddy. But they
(12:55):
work together somehow and our friends somehow, despite that probably
being an probable scenario. I mean I even picked up
like at points in this it wouldn't. It's not a
complete parallel, but like obviously Richard would be Jerry, and
then Larry bounces between being like a confident George in
(13:17):
terms of his like attitude towards everything they do, but
touched with like Kramer's sense of creativity. Well, I don't
know if creativity is the right word, but like Hair
Brains a Buddy film, you know, essentially, and I think
the best I think both the Mask the original one.
Jim Carrey plays heavily on this dynamic in its opening
(13:42):
which actually is very similar to this. If you go
back and watch the original Mask, it's a weirdly similar
kind of setup. Even though they don't say it's in
New York City, they give it another name, but it's
obviously New York City. And then I'll just say it
right now. I think I think Kevin Smith saw this
movie while he was writing Clerks. There's quite a few
small touchstones to me that I will bring up as
(14:04):
we move our way through, but that's all I'll say
about it for the moment.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
This is the modern equivalent of Rosencrans and Guild and Sturn.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
That was the other thing. That's the other.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
They were the Shakespearean buddies.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
It was also apparently okay to wear to wear short suits.
Did anybody see that? Like moving through their lobby, there
are there are men in suits that have knee length hants.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
It was the eighties. I mean the fashion was terrible. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
On online we talked about the plat on plaid suit
that I was wearing.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
I don't understand there's no dress code. You can wear
whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And invented power clashing.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
They take their discovery of uh what appears to be
insurance fraud, the Bernie Lomax, and he's very excited and
to celebrate their discovery, they they they get invited to
his weekend house in the Hampton's.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
For Labor Day. Yeah. Yeah, have you ever any of
you ever been to the Hampton's.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Because he lives across the South Connections. Man. Yeah, oh,
they don't let you in without those.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
It looks awesome. If that's what the Hampton's really like,
that's sweet. I'd love to just go from house to
house party.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
But it's really called the Hampton Island, which I don't
think is a real place.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
It's not. Well, there is somebody a place called Hampton Island.
Hampton Island is off of Georgia. The Hampton's.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, no, the Hampton Yeah, I mean, this is clearly
set in the Hampton's, but it's not a real island.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I mean, and they shot it in North Carolina. I
looked it up. But yeah, I was gonna say, does
this ring true with what Long Islanders are like?
Speaker 6 (15:57):
Is this life of Long Islanders?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
But it turns out that Bernie is part of a
much larger mob based conspiracy. We get some New York
mob action, which I yea loved and I didn't expect,
But apparently it's the huge, like motivating factor of why
the things play out later on.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Right or Yeah, he's somehow embezzling from his company and
they're helping him or something, and they're getting a good.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Scheme. Very unclear. It's very unclear how repeatedly making claims
on a person who's already dead by a person in
the company is both possible and also benefits them off. Yeah,
I'm sure there's a way to make it feels a
little overly complex. From the few times I've looked into
these kind of scams, they're usually not quite that many,
(16:56):
like layers that you have to get through.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah, But in any case, Bernie wants these these waves
taken out because before they can reveal the truth.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah, before they can him, before they can rat him
out and ruin his his ongoing scheme.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I love the hooks of Bernie not just wanting to
have these two young men killed, but also famously sleeping
with the mob boss's girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, apparently living on the edge at all times.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, it always that he can't skirting the knife player.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I mean to the point of her like playing footseat
with his crotch at the same table, and then the
second they are outside the restaurant presumably owned by Veto
the mobster, she's like climbing him as if nobody can
possibly see what's going on. Yeah, I love I love
that everything's pretty much out there on the surface, so
(17:53):
we as viewers don't have to think too much about
anything that's going on. It's let's see, Yeah, I remember
none of these things, yea, make sure. Yeah. Also that
the fact that, like just being inside restaurant, they openly
discuss embezzlement and murder while there's like a thousand people
(18:16):
around them without any apparent compunction or worry. So this
is we have.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
To remember this. It'll be fine, It'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yeah, good Fellas doesn't even come out yet. Sopranos is
still eighteen years away or whatever, like we didn't know
get away.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
With, We're still we're still blinded back then.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
For the most part. But we also get, of course,
our wonderful introduction to another cringey potential romance, which I
personally thought was a little bit ahead of its time,
Like the like this sort of like awkward again cringe
level humor of their interaction is very like post twenty
(19:00):
ten like, it feels so bad that it doesn't even
seem to fit in the era that it's set in.
Richard and Gwen, Yeah, Richard and Gwen just feels so strange.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
She did get a name, yeah, so she got a
name right away.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
And I'll say that also this movie, I learned everybody's
names in like five minutes. I didn't even have to
think about their names. So that's a lot of movies
from this era.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
But yeah, I mean coming from I'll pretend America at
this time. Sure what she sees in him? Yeah, I
mean it's extremely awkward and constantly lying to her.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
But when you have such counselors as Larry at your behest,
it's no wonder you probably aren't getting ahead in any
particular way because his advice is quick. Ask her out.
On an elevator that I count, it has no fewer
than fourteen people on one elevator, which is above the
capacity any elevator I've ever seen. I suppose New York
(20:03):
might have higher, higher strength ones because of how many
people have to travel up and down.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
But it doesn't like people were thinner back then because
of coke.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
That is true that, I mean, you might have been
able to fit a few more on each lift going up.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Did you know that John Cryer was originally supposed to
be the Andrew McCarthy character.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I read that, but happened. I admit, I don't know
who that is because he was another put like peripheral
brat pack member or something.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
He was in a descriptor. I don't use dusty and
pretty and pink. You have you seen pretty?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, okay, yeah, I mean I'd spend like fifteen years,
but yeah, I've seen it, so okay. So they knew
what type they wanted to put in that role.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
What's interesting is that I still don't feel like he's
the lead character, and yet that's the most famous person.
Apparently they were looking to plug in the most famous
person in the role of ostensibly the comedic sidekick rather
than the guy. Yeah yeah, decided to costume this guy
with his sunglasses hanging off one ear and newspapers rolled
(21:17):
in each of his pockets mismatch plaid suit. Like, I
don't know what they were trying to tell us.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So Bernie goes to his beach house where he tries
to begin He begins planning the murder of to lead,
which it's hilarious when.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's rebuilt later on. I'm not gonna lie. The note
that he writes crashed me up.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Guess they saved that for a late revelation.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, I thought that was pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Instead, a hitman named Polly arrives before the two young
men and then gives Bernie a lethal dose of heroin.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah in the ass. Yeah, it doesn't kill you that quickly.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Make sure you don't like odan under three seconds from
that cleanly as well. I mean, it paints a very
it paints a very efficient picture of how the mob
takes care of problems, Like apparently they just show up
in broad daylight, sticky with a needle, and the job
is done.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You just walk away, poor Bernie, and Bernie dies of it.
Let us what appears to be a self inflicted overdose.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Pretty clever, hard.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Right, I mean, it's not. It doesn't seem completely out
of character or completely impossible. So not a bad cover
if you don't want it to look like if you
don't want it to look like a murder in the
first it's also a little bit it's a little bit
unclear to me exactly why killing only Bernie is the plan.
Like from the mob perspective, don't you want all three
(22:58):
of them dead?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, like they all.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Know what's going on now. Just because they don't know
who arranged it, they still know what was going on.
And if their boss turns up dead of a heroin
overdose over the weekend, I got a feeling that they're
probably gonna take it to someone else. Like, it's not
just gonna go away because you spared the morons who
were too to be part of the scheme.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Details details.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
It's a conflict, I'm saying. It's just it's a conflicting
portrait of the mafia, and like how efficient they are
about the things.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So Larry and Richard, Yes, they find the body and
instead of immediately calling the cops, they kind of puts
around for a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Fine, until the party goers started arriving, just walk in.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Have any you have ever been in a party situation
like that, Kellen, I mean, you're probably the most likely
to walk into I AM.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
With the dead body here. Yeah, I mean it's a sious.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I feel like Kellen is the most likely to have
this play out in real life.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I mean that that's said if I've walked into a
party that had a dead body at it. I've never
once learned nobody else either, nobody has nobody we appointed
one out.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I mean, Alex has definitely been in a situation. Alex
has probably caused the situation.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
His expertise here would be much. I mean, I've been
in places where parties have spontaneously occurred long ago. I
don't know that it was ever quite this abrupt that
nobody even bothered checking. It was just like, well, we
all showed up here. It is maybe a few times.
So that was like college when like it was just
(24:50):
kind of accepted that if it was an open door policy,
if if you didn't have you know, Yeah, I mean,
and it's the Hampton's. I guess this is just how
how the people live out there.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, Josh lived in a place called the Hockey House,
and I always like there was always just big parties
that random people would show up to.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean, I guess it does kind of work.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
I don't know if it works with actual adults. I
don't know if it works with actual adults.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
It is a college thing, for sure, Yeah, yeah, at
any given time, I don't know all these yuppies that
would be the correct term for these people or we
need like, is there a term for like?
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Is there? I feel like there should be a better
term for a rich yuppie because it feels like when
I'm thinking back to the eighties and that term, it
doesn't imply that they're inherently wealthy. It's just like a
lifestyle they're emulating, as opposed to them being rich. On
top of that, it seems like there must be a
more specific term.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I view Larry and Richard as yuppies because they're striving
to be upperly immobile but not quite there yet, Like
they're trying to live that lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
He just rich then I guess, yes, like the rich
I mean, yes, the rich oblivious is going to be.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
That's kind of beach house in the Hampton's. I mean
he's doing okay, I.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Mean obviously, this entire movie is really just a subtle
commentary on the on the vapidity of the late eighties
yuppie lifestyle. That you can have an entire party with
a dead guy and not even notice it. That's that's
that's what Caine was really talking about when he made
this movie.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I don't know, everyone interacts to him and just like
accepts his total non response.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That lady groping him for the cocaine doesn't care at all.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
That tracks I feel like I think the implication is
that everybody's already on enough drugs, or that it's not
really registering just where anybody else.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Is it does It does kind of look like a
fun party though.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, at this point, I want a prequel where I
want to see what I want to see, a backstory
of here's.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
The thing, see see. We don't need to write see.
Josh and I were discussing how we would write, how
we would write a legacy equal now that only that
only acknowledges the first movie and the first half of
the second.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Zero.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
But you may be onto something justin it would actually
be more fun to see the life of Bernie before
this occurred and how it got to this level. Or
we can do both. We can really, we can pitch both.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
High no remake prequel only Yeah, I would. I would
watch that movie because the.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Bernie the Sequel reboot, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
The high highs of Bernie's coch coal orgies in the
Hamptons would be hilarious, and.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
If we want to, we can touch in on the
things that led Also Richard and Larry to their unusual positions,
but somehow thinking they can pull off sitcoms shenanigans left
and right without anybody knowing before it's proven to them
that they in fact can do just that.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
That's they can't do it.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
They can't.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I mean the.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Richard's Richard's parents family house. That's just straight up like
a Seinfeld sketch. There's nothing, there's nothing about that that
doesn't work perfectly with him or Friends. I really think
a lot of this feels like Friends but dark.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
That's yeah, a twinge of of the darkness here well.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
And that's some extreme morbidity as it goes on.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It's interesting how basically the dead body joke carries the
last sixty minutes. It's literally the same joke as they
can play it again and again, and I thought it
entertain Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
H's the repetition of absurdity makes it funnier the longer
ghost when it's the family guy paradox or like the
I think it wasn't Mad Graining himself, but someone on
The Simpsons was like, yeah, the key is to like
repeat it, so you like go over the hill on
it being funny into annoying and then into like total
(29:24):
absurdity was a joke for them. They like. Their example
was the bit where Homer, you know, steps up a
rake and gets nailed in the face by the handle,
and then it just happens for like a minute straight
and it turns out he's in like a field of rakes.
So it just keeps occurring over and over again, and
(29:45):
you can't eventually stop laughing at how stupid it is.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
My favorite part of this movie is when Richard and
Glenn are kissing on the beach and then washes up
the side. It's adorable.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Could we also addressed? I just want to see if
anybody else has any theories. What the hell is with
I mean, it's again the eighties architecture. Whatever, What the
hell is Bernie's house like structured.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Like it's got idiot, Yeah, it.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Looks like a half finished construction project, and it's got
this weird, like I don't even know how like thing
that overtops the whole house.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
It's it's weird.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
It looks it's like a it's like a bad James
Bond Villain's escaped.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
It's like an overly modern architectural design, but it doesn't
look very good.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Yeah, No, it's like brutal.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I can't believe he was allowed to do that with
the zoning ordnance on Hampton There's no way, there's.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
No way, I think the real Hamptons would allow you
to do He's got this concrete monstrosity out here on
the waterfront. It's going to impede the view of everybody.
Also like forgetting, and this is a This is a
testament to how well both my childhood memory doesn't hold
(31:12):
up and how good they were with their scoring. I
swore to God that this one happened in the Caribbean.
As as a child, I was convinced they went from
New York City down to the Caribbean, and that's where
all of this action basically doesn't part of the sequel
(31:33):
is there. So maybe my kid brain like put them
together like I did as a kid. I'm sure, I
am sure. I don't remember anything specific just like this one,
but I know that I did so this like quasi
reggae they've got playing in the back right, Yeah, does
this perfect job of Like I guess this is supposed
(31:55):
to be an island paradise. But so the other thing
to address is how wild the A. D R. Ing
is on every outdoor scene that this movie has, Like
if the camera is not a foot in front of
their face, it is very clear that they are just
looping in dialogue recorded in the studio on top of
the footage they have. Because it's like this ambient voice
(32:16):
that doesn't have any directionality to it, and it's so
clean and crisp with no background sound going on, that
they must have made very little effort to record it
on site and just went, like one of the classics,
we can fix that in post. We're not gonna go
out there and try to record it because it's so goofy.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
No, no one's gonna no one's gonna ing sound the
audio for Weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
We're not cruising for Best Sound Editing Oscars today.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
You Know, one of the questions I had is I
was watching you know, clearly Bernie Lowman.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Transits of life as where where's Bernie Now?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Did Tony Kaiser, the actor who played Bernie, did he
play the dead body the entire time?
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I wonder, Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Think it's like, I think it's fifty to fifty. I
think there's I think on the indoor stuff, I think
it's usually the actor as long as nothing horribly physical
is happening to him, because obviously some of the ways
that that it behaves there has to be a person,
like the off the deck like that, you can be
(33:31):
a dummy from the yeah, or like downstairs or something,
but like when he needs to land in a way
or like hit someone or something, that's obviously that's just
the actor doing. But all credit, it is kind of
hard to tell when it shifts between them. They did
a pretty good job splicing stuff, so.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
This one had better special effects than basket.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Case effects than a number of the movies we have watched.
This still did a better job of stitching together a
believe able visuals then they, so we get we can
also don't forget Bernie. Bernie can also hear his telephone
ringing from the beach outside his house. Somehow, it's like
(34:12):
the loudest telephone on the island.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
The character's motivations lead them away from the right thing
to do, which is reporting Bernie's death.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So we have Larry wants to court win, right was
that Richard Richard Richard? Yeah, And Larry just wants to
he wants he wants to keep the good times.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Larry is a good time guy.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
He doesn't mean.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
To be fair.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
He's going to be dead on Saturday, the same as
on Friday. You might as well enjoy Labor Day weekend.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Yeah, this is where again I'm saying he's got a
very Randall Graves kind of attitude. Oh yeah, Clerk's it
kind of feels like he might be a little of
a prototype for that.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Oh yeah, just be like, let's just.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Go with it, Dante, what's up? Whatever?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Can we pretend that he's not that?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Speaking of Clerks, we have a moment in which the
mafia boss's girlfriend arrived at and then proceeds to have
sex with the corpse of Burnie, and Bernie apparently lays
down the pipe quite well, because she walks away pretty
pleased with the encounter.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Yeah, just exactly like Clerks.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
How they commented, he was like getting more asked after that.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Very uch, very nonchalantly. They are by the stone like
they're not pleased with it. Also not like that put out, Yeah,
put out.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So how does this work though? Does he die with
an erection or is this something like I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
It's just it's the only part of his body that
Rigamorti supplies.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
That was the only one that was the only one
that stiffened up.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
The rest of his body is limp because of his dick.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Yeah, yeah, it sucked all the blood into it.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
And Clerks, the pretext is he dies masturbating in the
bathroom or is this he doesn't seem to have an
erection when he gets shot with heroin?
Speaker 1 (36:30):
No, in fact, that really shouldn't give you an erection.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
No, thank god Kevin Smith tied up that weird decided
to make his version of things.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I couldn't stand the plot hole weakened the Bernie. So yes,
the retroacts. I have to.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Make my version of this so much version of this
so much better.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Otherwise the realism of Clerks won't shine through.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
Yeah it will. It will always shatter at this juncture. Also,
those guys, the guys are way too casual about touching
other people's drugs and money. Yeah, they like find very
sub things and immediately pick them up and look at them, like,
come on, you know how at least a little bit
(37:20):
of forensics works. You're supposed to be genuine New Yorkers.
You don't just be like, oh, what's that, Neil, You've
got there and pick it up.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, it's the corpse sex that actually sets a lot
of the plot in motion because one of the mobsters.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
There's nothing in this movie that doesn't need to be well,
except for the.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Richard's Except except for Richard's weird foray with when at
his parents house. That's the only part that is really
no relevance to the plot.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I don't think you're wrong though, Other that, like almost
every event, every scene in this contributes to the going
forward of this there's very little, like there's no b
plot going up.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
One of the mafia guys witnesses minions the menu. One
of the minions witnesses, you know, the fact that Bernie
and the mob's girlfriend is having sex, which leads to
the false impression that Bernie is still alive, which requires
the assassin to come back to the island to take
care of the job.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Yeah, it's very it's very smart setup for wars Mannikins.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
It cuts to the next day and we see that
Richard or Richard creates like a.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Larry Larry. Larry's Larry is always the one doing the
stupider thing of the always there Larry's always the good.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Larry creates rigs like a police system. He's waving to
further the illusion that Bernie is still alive. That's where
it starts to become pretty funny, actually manipulations.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
Yes, we're getting into the surreal. Once we reached this
part of it, they veered off the rails.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
This also begins to lead to the discovery of the
random recordings of Bernie's effort to have the two men killed.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Is that correct? That is connected to that he accidentally
recorded it on his his answering machine. Because if you
don't remember, your phone used to have a cassette tape
in it. I would record everything, Yeah, have a flashback.
Could be a lot harder to make this movie. Well,
(40:00):
now your phone would just be reporting you regardless. So
they now understand that they were going to be killed here,
but well not an around. Yeah, but now if Bernie
was around, So now they think they got to keep
it going because that'll prevent them from being murders.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
See, And that's that's a difference I've forgotten. There was
a little bit more motivation going at some point because
at some point earlier in the night, literally even Larry's like,
we're going to do this for like thirty minutes, just
so we can do some stuff and then we'll call
the cops. It'll be fine. The plan when it sufferts
off is not see how long we can keep this going.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Oh yeah, yeah, we need to do this for.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
A limited period of time, and then once that windows passed,
we can totally come clean. Because obviously this is an extreme, absurd,
messy situation. They're not really going to get much trouble.
They're just going to be held up with like red
tape and filling out reports.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
You you might have some fun first. Absolutely, I give
you guy Burnie me if you ever needed to.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Oh yeah, well we already knew.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Justin you got to discuss the suicide note.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I didn't write any notes down, but it is essentially
a suicide note.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
Essentially suicide.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
It is a murdered suicide. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Essentially reveals a plot between Larry and Richard that involved
what Larry's sex change operations.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
To puzzle enough money from the company for his sex
change before they can run away together.
Speaker 7 (41:36):
Because this stuff was hilarious back yeah, and uh, I
love the fact that Andrew really does get caught up
in the idea that uh about.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
That a problem for him.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
His reputation is going to be ruined.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
Like this is somehow already out there in the world
and there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
This is a timely film. This you know, could have
been written last week.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
Sure. Yeah, it's a great it's a great snapshot of
any day.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
At this point in the film, Like, it's very much
like the same as as mentioned earlier, where like they
try to pretend that Bernie is alive and also get
off the island, but everything kind of backfires on him.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
So it's like the same joke as mentioned, like repeated
over and over and over again. It is, but it
finds it. Despite that, it's it's still entertaining. Yeah, my
favorite part is the little kid burying.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
Uh up.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Yeah, that little kid, by the way I looked this up,
grows up to direct the sequel to the Borat movie.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah, Jonathan, his name is Jason Woolner, and he directs
the Borat sequel.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Oh wow, I mean and Andrew McCarthy goes on to
direct many episodes of television after he gets out of acting.
A few years after this, he basically becomes at a
pretty well respected for hire TV director.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Wow, yeah, I wont what happened to him.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
Yeah, he just went behind the scenes instead of saying
with acting after actually not even that I wasna say
after his divorce, but that doesn't happen until like two
thousand and five. So he gets a pretty good gig
doing TV stuff. He did Lawn Order. He did still
do an acting role in one of the Law and
Orders for like a couple episodes. Him and Vincent Denafrio
(43:39):
famously had some sort of a tiff going on that
prevented him from being part of the show for a while,
which doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Ted Kochev went on to not direct with Ken at
Bernie's Too.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
No, the I think the I believe the writer went
on to direct his own material for the sequel. He
couldn't even.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Robert Klain.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
This was his, this was his project, this was his
passion peace.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Eventually, though, the secret comes out when when sees Bernie
walking or I guess Larry and Richard carrying Bernie's body
on the beach and they have to reveal to her
that he's he's.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Dead at just one more lie. Richard just keeps.
Speaker 4 (44:32):
Filing him on.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
They bring Larry and they bring Bernie back into his
house where they where he gets.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Shot by the mafia guy a couple of times.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
Is that the name of the guy is the name
of the assassin. Yeah, but not before. But not before.
This was the point I was going to bring. They
came up earlier. Several other people attempt to enter. Yeah, yeah,
largely unexplained, and both Larry and Richard assume they are
other mob hitmen sent down them and comically work their
(45:09):
efforts and what can only be described as like a
Marxian the brothers not carnal level of competency, and I
was under the impression initially that they were merely hired
hands of some sort around the place that were there
to do like landscaping.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Or the first guy. The first guy was like the
person that was doing some work for Bernie, but he
didn't like it, so he threw them out, and the
guy I wanted to be paid.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
The second person was unex presumptively some type of work. Yeah,
just their wrong time, wrong place. None of them were
actually hit men, but they were just set up earlier
in the movie in like a single quick scene so
that you could establish they were not in fact a threat.
They would be missing tru Oh did we meet the
second guy before I maybe this is one of those
(46:06):
like blink and you miss it.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Maybe he was maybe he was on the dock or something.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
I don't know, right, but like in any case, he
comes in quick sequence. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure what
he took out was actually a small like a belt
tree saw is actually the weapon that he had, which
would be an awful murder weapon. But when I saw
when I saw it, I recognized this something I have
(46:32):
used before. I'm like, okay, he's just literally here to
do landscaping, which then led me to the belief that perhaps,
again another thing I had not remembered about this was like, wait,
does Richard accidentally kill several people trying to protect himself
and Larry from I didn't remember if they were supposed
to be dead or alive when they are hauled away
(46:53):
and put inside the pant they were just Yeah. But
as you will medically attest, I'm not just a serious
head injury more than two hours, I believe is like
a massive concussion that is probably going to be debilitating
for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
They're gonna get early on. We really needed a Pineapple
Express style fight, Yeah, we didn't. We didn't get it.
Speaker 4 (47:20):
I mean, has this has this cuts completely Benny Hill loose.
We get a few things that are I mean like
it feels like stooges. It feels also at certain quite
a few points, I almost just feels like a stage
play until they start doing stuff like going out on
the boat to escape. So much of it happens in
(47:42):
the same beam space as It's like you could easily
stage this whole thing, and it's just good sight gags,
which is something you need to have in theater comedy
because well, if you're not Oscar Wild, you're gonna instead
throw pies in people's faces. So trying to do a
musical yet have they Oh, it's began telling you a lot,
(48:03):
a lot we could work with. Also, like when once
they start dragging him behind the boat is when it
like crests into the not where the sublimely surreal realm.
There's nothing, there's nothing left of reality for us to
hold on to anyways, so let's live with what it's doing.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I don't know how to breach the fact that there's
so much sillyness going on. How do we want to
get to the end of the film.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Bernie is still dead? Is apprehended. Everything seems like it's
going to be good, and then we get one last
treat where it was the paramedics. Yeah, like Bernie, Bernie's
Bernie's gurney, and then he limply falls into the sand
(48:54):
behind him and gives them one last year.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
When invite Richard to stay with her family. So we
have a nice conclusion to the reasons here.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Yeah, it doesn't seem like he's done anything more charming,
like in any way endearing to her. She's part of
his conspiracy now, just.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Like in Clerks Larry, like the the friendship, the codependent
friendship breaks the part and they both have healthier relationships afterwards.
Speaker 4 (49:26):
Sure, as long as you don't follow the sequels.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, that's true. He really backslides on that. That personal growth.
Speaker 4 (49:35):
Yeah, I mean to except like if I was just
glad we got to the other and went, I don't
feel like one character grew, Adam, that's what you want.
There was no resolution because there was no real conflict
for them as a personal level. It was just it
was just how to get out of a situation they
were in. It was like perfect, I got it, Man
(49:55):
Seinfeld or any other nineties You're like good not changed.
They learned zero things about what they did wrong, and
now they're back to doing the same thing again.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
In I hope Bernie is presumably buried in the sands
forever by that asshole.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
As a young boy.
Speaker 4 (50:13):
Because no one follows up I disappeared.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
We eventually watched the sequel, plind that it's not true.
Speaker 4 (50:19):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Should this be our Thanksgiving special where we watch the
next one for the following things.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Given, we again at Bernie's. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah,
let's make this our annual tradition. Celebrate the pilgrim sitting
down with Squanto watch weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 4 (50:38):
As we all know they did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
This this film is oddly persisted in the cultural zeitgeist.
I mean, how big of a hit was this back
in eighty nine?
Speaker 4 (50:49):
It doubled its budget, but that's not saying a whole lot.
But again, it's nineteen eighty nine and prices are substantially
lower back then. So this budgeted about fifteen million and
made about thirty million in the box office, which form
a comedy in that era is probably pretty decent, I
would guess.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
I'm sure. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (51:09):
Despite despite critics like hating it and panning it. So
no surprise, there was no no charm found in these Yeah,
in these escapades back then.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
What why do you think it's part of the zeitgeist.
Was it just that like it was absolutely on TV
and people.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Just watched it when they are like drunk or stone
or tired. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
I think that's part of it. That's probably, that's probably
part if.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
You want to, if you want a actually pretty funny example.
At the Republican National Convention this past summer, Ron DeSantis
was referring to Biden and said that America cannot afford
for more years of a weekend at Bernie's. I mean,
(51:53):
that's fair.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Fair that that proves that it's like, that's at least
a reference that seemed like it might hit with enough people.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That's fair, that's fair. I don't want to give the
Santa City props, but I get what he's saying. That's
a pretty funny joke.
Speaker 4 (52:11):
Yeah, I guess he gets that one.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
It's weird, like you wouldn't think this like the like
B movie comedy would would have set off such a.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
You know, in the culture, but it did, right, one
of those Comedy Central movies, because like I think of
the movie, the film Porky's. There's no reason why I
should remember Porky's or Porky should have any kind of culture,
some reason people should.
Speaker 1 (52:40):
Still be watching Porky Yeah, or like movies have come
out since then, like why are you still watching that?
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Another movie that I think about a lot, like it
takes up a lot of my like mental space for
no other reason than it was shown constantly was the
film PCU.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
Do you remember PCU?
Speaker 4 (52:55):
Yeah, okay, Jeremy Piven, David Spade College, Yeah, okay. It's
in the same vein as a lot of those things.
I don't remember anybody else. I remember George Clinton's in
it right at the end.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
We're not going to protest as they start to protest.
Speaker 4 (53:18):
It's one of those movies that I remember seeing and
I remember virtually nothing about except that whatever a decade later,
looking at probably Entourage or something something else, Jeremy something else,
Jeremy Piven.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
Fabreau acting bro Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (53:37):
Yeah, correct, just going did Jeremy Piven age backwards? He
looks older than he does when he's in Entourage. It's
like a grown up lawyer in Las Vegas. He looks
younger then, and it doesn't look like he had any surgery.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Looks watched the money when he guest started in Seinfeld, he.
Speaker 4 (53:57):
Looks even older.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah, and he's like Benjamin Button.
Speaker 4 (54:04):
Well, I was gonna say, or like Merlin and that
bit wrote the Sword of the Stone of like the
age is backwards. Literally he was born at an old
age and he just worked his way backwards. It's bananas. Hmm,
that's true.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
This was also had Top.
Speaker 4 (54:23):
This was the first movie where somehow the only time
I've noticed it. But then I started thinking back and going,
wait a minute, that is a recurrent thing. There seems
to be what I fully describe as an eighties girl
accent that happens in these movies that it is really redundant.
(54:44):
It happens in so many movies. It's like this weirdly
flat kind of a what then the female leads almost
always end up having it doesn't sound I know, I
know you're I know you're referring to but yeah, because
girl thing or any of this, it's not a valley girl. No. Yeah,
it's a strangely flattened tone.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
They alter it wasn't valley girl like later in terms
of like it's like mid nineties, right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (55:13):
Yeah, yeah, I mean with clueless being the obvious. Yeah,
really taking off of.
Speaker 1 (55:19):
That, there was a there was a way of talking,
and I don't know where that came from or what
happened to it, right, I.
Speaker 4 (55:25):
Mean every era has some of those hallmarks, but it's
the first time about the eighties I've noticed that specific. Like,
I think that is pretty predominant. Like I still thought
of Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street, or like they
all have the strange like is that supposed to be
It's not supposed to be a Midwest excellent because they
give it to an East Coaster too, So it's just like,
(55:48):
is this just the way they were training women to do,
to use their voices and film at the time.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
No, I mean presumably Gwen's family is from Long Island, right,
shouldn't sound at least Yeah no.
Speaker 4 (56:01):
No, not at all. I mean at least the other
characters vaguely sound like they're from New York. Yeah, it
kind of fits with what they're doing. Yeah, but no,
she has this strange flat white girl ex.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
Now on the Heavenly Mandates Drunk Uncle holiday scale, which
has been used since the Dawn of Man a discovery
of fire. To quantify the relative awkwardness of family gathering
during the holidays, we will endeavor to rape this film
on a scale one to ten, him being quote, thank god,
uncle uncle Joe found the schnops early and passed out.
(56:37):
We can all watch the Lions game in peace now,
one being oh god, uncle Joe is trying to explain
why feminism ruined women.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
To toddlers.
Speaker 2 (56:50):
Or fives being average, or quote, oh uncle Joe, Oh cool.
Uncle Joe has a new girlfriend, so he's trying to
be still make a good impression.
Speaker 1 (57:01):
It sounds vaguely specific. My fellow mandates ranked this film.
Speaker 4 (57:12):
I love having a I love having an arbitrary scale.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
So it's it's uh, it's number of Joes or whatever
you want. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
I didn't even catch what the unit is being the best,
watch being the worst, by being the middle, however you
want to QUI the film.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
I didn't know what. I didn't know what the noun was.
I don't know either.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
I literally fell asleep and we got to do this
until like five minutes before we started recording.
Speaker 1 (57:43):
This is the best. Should remind you that we were recorded.
I can go first, A man So the Weekend at
Bernie's is uh, you know, definitely not a good movie,
but thoroughly entertaining throughout despite basically them beating a dead body,
(58:04):
which was literally the joke for sixty minutes, it has,
you know, exhibited a weird cultural staying power. So I
think if you just you know, view this movie in isolation,
probably four out of ten with the cultural staying power.
And you know, we're still talking about this movie thirty
(58:25):
plus years later, six out of ten. And I didn't
want to use AI this time. So I wanted to
see if there were any Weekend at Bernie's poems out there,
and there are good. This is a Weekend at Bernie's
(58:45):
back of a postcard. So this is the poem that
would be written on the back of the postcard with
you know, a picture of the Hampton's on the front
that you're sending to your friends and family. It's by an,
It's by initials SG from the website Rhyme and Reason
Poetry Mats film reviews.
Speaker 4 (59:05):
Oh well, thank you for citing your source very thoroughly.
Speaker 1 (59:09):
As you can see in this picture, we're all hanging
out having fun in the sun. We just took the
Ferry and shared a high five. All happy and mary
and very alive. I can't understate how alive we all feel,
especially Bernie. It's almost surreal. Wish you were here, but
(59:30):
there's really no need. Yes, don't mind Bernie, he has
a nosebleed.
Speaker 4 (59:40):
I'm glad you were able to find that.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
That exists.
Speaker 4 (59:47):
For anyone who wants to see it's next. I didn't
put any effort into the final part of this because
I wasn't even sure how we were doing this scale,
so we never are alas. No particular ren app would
suit this, I don't think, although probably somewhere out there.
Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Nobody's done a weekend in Bernie's song.
Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
I bet I bet there are, or at least, as
you say, a few dropped references, because it is still
somehow relevant. But a last too much work for me
sounds that I will say this movie is everything I
don't remember it to be. I, as discussed by all
of us, don't actually have any specific recollections about this movie,
(01:00:33):
except that I know I saw it many times and
I always found it funny at that time, so it
leaves a favorable impression and then disappears like breath Mint,
But that said, revisiting it, I was still pleasantly surprised
throughout nothing about it particularly struck me as dated. Beyond
the obvious cheesiness of the era that it came out in,
(01:00:56):
which I would expect it to be. Anyways, it didn't
feel like anything was even that off color or that
weird and how bad and say a little over half
the jokes hit and they come pretty fast. It's a
pretty fast paced movie for how stupid it is. And
it also doesn't pretend to be anything other than the
stupid movie that it is. It's not really putting on
(01:01:17):
any airs about anything. It's just letting you set it
up and then be like, how many ways can we
drop this body in a way that you might find
funny and like for me, didn't even involve the body
at the end, Like the phone cord fight with Paulie
at the end was one of the pinnacles of like
physical humor that I've seen in quite a while. So
(01:01:39):
that being said, I'd say we're hitting a sweet spot
where Uncle Joe is still looking to leave a positive impression,
but he's getting just loose enough with enough schnops that
he's going to hit that point where it's going to
be funny to see how he ruins it. So I'm
gonna say I would still of this probably, Uh, this
(01:02:01):
is probably a seven out of ten for me. Okay,
this is this is the kind of enjoyable stupidity that
I can get into. Probably not something that I would
want to see every few months, but once a year
I can still get into it, for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Just watching the Uncle Joe train wreck, and it's kind
of fun, kind of.
Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
Fun, and I only have to see it once a year.
Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
According to IMDb, there are fifty nine films in which
necrophilia play a prominent point in.
Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
Terms of the plot.
Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
That's fifteen, yeah, I mean say it.
Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Weekends and Birdies is ranked fifty three on the all
time list of necrophilia based plot films. Out of how
many out of fifty nine it's not even in the
top Yeah, it's one of the Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:02:57):
Guys, I got an idea for our next season.
Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Clerks in this one should easily be in the top five.
It's also the only PG thirteen film.
Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
Yeah, I that that's the case.
Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
I imagine most of the other films in that list
are not that fun to watch. No, pretty hard, R.
Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
Don't mean that one way or the other. Just need
a hard r.
Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
So if you're looking for a family film that features
necrophilia and on the better end of that spectrum, watch
Weekend at Bernie's. I ranked this film a obligatory ten
out of ten.
Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
Out of ten, you shouldn't even mean you.
Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Should tell Erica that this had a much higher rating
than Watching the Woods. It is better than watching the Woods.
That will give it that as well.
Speaker 4 (01:03:57):
I think objectively it is.
Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
This was a fun movie.
Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Reminds me of a Yeah, it was a childhood experience
that I had totally forgotten about and it was really
nice to go back and revisit it.
Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
It's very talked about doing it for like two years. Yeah, yeah,
I made it.
Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Maybe want to see the sequel and it wasn't a
bad way to waste an evening.
Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
So can you watch the sequel and tell us that
it's worthwhile? Yeah, I'll watch it.
Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
One, two, three minits of palms.
Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
It's dank, straight up
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