One thing that's most fascinating about Bernie is how people are capable of looking at law and justice in a different way when the victim is a much hated person and the perpetrator is someone they love. What Bernie did was clearly wrong, even if it was committed in the heat of the moment. It was weird and a little funny to see the residents of the town trying their best to offer a convincing reason for his actions. And it's not just them, even I didn't realize the gravity of his act because I simply couldn't take anymore of what was happening on screen. The killing happened at a point where I was completely bored and wondered why this film even got made. It's not just poor Bernie suffering at Mrs. Nugent's expense; I was having a terrible time myself. Something significant had to happen and quick.
Is an autopsy conducted even when old people die? If not, Bernie could have gotten away with it very easily. After all, he's in the Embalming business. He didn't for some reason but that doesn't make him a saint, does it? He bought time by buying the love and admiration of people living in the town. He was already very popular, but just to be sure, he kept at it. But there's no regret until he gets caught. It's good that the film looked at its protagonist in an unbiased way.
The documentary-type narrative was interesting. The film relies on these third-person accounts to drive the story forward. This one particular woman was very funny as she laughed uncontrollably while her neighbor kept swearing a lot at Mrs.Nugent. It's a small town movie where everybody knows everyone. I usually love these kind of films but Bernie didn't work that well. It's not a bad movie. It surely gets a lot better after that one incident. It's just that it's not very entertaining. I wished there was more of Matthew McConaughey. There's this one line where he mispronounces Les Miserables as "Lez Mis-Ray-Bels", which I thought was pretty funny. Shirley MacLaine plays this old lady anyone would love to hate. I kept thinking how much the lovely Miss Kubelik had changed. The fact that the film is based on a true story only helps its cause. I probably would have dismissed the story had it not taken place for real.