For this week’s movie review, I will be going back to a comedy cult classic – Weekend at Bernie’s. For those who do not know, this 1989 film was directed by Ted Kotcheff, the director of another cult classic: First Blood (the first Rambo movie). Although Weekend at Bernie’s was reviewed poorly, it went on to become favorite among people who enjoy dark, hijinks-filled comedy.

The movie has a relatively simple premise. Two young employees, laid-back and hedonistic Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and uptight and straight-laced Richard Parker (Johnathan Silverman) work at a large insurance corporation in New York. One weekend, they find a discrepancy in insurance claims. Hopeful of a raise, the pair alert their boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), of the problem. Bernie then invites them to enjoy a weekend at his vacation house in The Hamptons to treat them for their hard work and to discover the source of the problem. In reality, Bernie has no intention of treating them to a weekend and instead implores a mafia boss to “get rid of the problem (aka Larry and Richard).” Unbeknownst to Bernie, the mafia is more concerned with killing Bernie than Larry or Richard. When the pair arrive in the Hamptons, they soon discover that Bernie is dead. Instead of alerting the police, the two decide to use the drunken apathy of The Hamptons’ residents to enjoy the weekend, drink lots of booze, and meet lots of women (Richard’s love interest, Gwen (Catherine Marie Stewart) happens to be at The Hamptons as well) all while pretending that Bernie is alive. Naturally, hijinks ensue.

One thing that struck me about this movie is the phenomenon known as “Seinfeld is unfunny.” Basically, something that may have been original in the past has been done so many times that the original product appears derivative or unoriginal to later viewers. Weekend at Bernie’s may have suffered from that to an extent. Most of the humor in this movie is derived from irreverent mistreatment of Bernie’s corpse. While that humor may have been pushing the envelope in the late 1980’s, recent black comedies would be far more explicit. It also relied heavily on the corpse as the sole method of delivering comedy. After the original scene of seeing everyone pretend a dead man is alive, the novelty wears off fast. It makes you wonder how unfunny many of Judd Apatow’s envelope-pushing comedies will be in ten or twenty years.

The movie was not completely unfunny though, and its social commentary was one of the more humorous aspects. The movie is in many ways lampooning the superficial lifestyles of the wealthy residents in The Hamptons who are so drunk and unaware that they can have conversations with a corpse. Much of that same critique can be brought to modern society as friendships more frequently exist on the surface.

If you are a fan of late-80’s black comedies that do not require much thought, then Weekend at Bernie’s is just the ticket. If not, you may do better watching other classic comedies.