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Director Richard Linklater teams with writer Skip Hollandsworth for this darkly comic docudrama detailing the unusual friendship between a likable Texas mortician and a wealthy but reviled widow, and the shocking crime that followed. Inspired by Hollandsworth's 1998 Texas Monthly article that first caught the attention of Linklater, Bernie takes place in Carthage, TX, where effeminate mortician Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) enjoys a reputation as a friendly and upstanding member of the community. Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), on the other hand, couldn't hold a lower position on the local social scale. Repressed and bitter, nasty Marjorie has isolated herself from her neighbors, and as a result has been essentially shunned in her small town. The moment Bernie shows Marjorie a shred of kindness, she clings to him tightly and refuses to let go. Meanwhile, as Marjorie becomes Bernie's sugar mama and the pair becomes inseparable, the local rumor mill begins to churn. Eventually, her intense jealousy becomes too much for Bernie to take. When the caustic widow's body is discovered stuffed in her own freezer, local District Attorney Buck Davidson (Matthew McConaughey) vows that justice will be served, but he finds it difficult to build a convincing case against Bernie as the locals rally to his defense. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
Desperate circumstances force a man to make a terrible choice in this period drama. It's 1957, and Walker Payne (Jason Patric) is a good but troubled man who struggles to keep his appetite for whiskey and women under control for the sake of his two daughters after breaking up with his wife (Drea de Matteo). Like most of the men in the small Illinois town he calls home, Payne provides for his daughters by working in a nearby coal mine, and when the mine suddenly closes, jobs become all but impossible to find. Payne's money problems come to a head when his ex-wife, who has decided to leave town and attend nursing school, demands 5,000 dollars or otherwise she will take custody of their children and he'll never see them again. Opportunity comes to Payne in the form of Syrus (Sam Shepard), a charming but unscrupulous man who offers Payne the chance to make some big money fast. Syrus runs an illegal dog-fighting circuit outside of town, and he's certain Payne's pooch Brute, a good-natured but massive animal, has the stuff to be a champion. Can Payne sacrifice his loyal canine friend to maintain the custody of his daughters? Walker Payne also stars Bruce Dern as Walker's friend Chester and KaDee Strickland as Audrey, a divorcée with an unpleasant past who falls for Payne. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Patric, Drea de Matteo, (more)
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