Larry and Richard work at an insurance company and they've just uncovered an embezzlement scheme. On presenting the facts to their boss he rewards them with a weekend visit to his holiday home on Long Island. Unfortunately the host has turned up dead and they aren't planning on letting this spoil their weekend!

Runtime
1 Hour 35 Minutes
Region
Region 2
Sound
Stereo
Aspect
1.33:1
Release year
1989

Details

After uncovering an elaborate fraud at their office, Larry and Richard are rewarded with a weekend visit to their boss's luxury holiday home on Long Island. Unfortunately for the boys their boss, Bernie, is the embezzler and wants them out of the way permanently. Bernie approaches some gangland friends who, rather than killing the boys, decide to kill Bernie for being sloppy and for "playing away" with the gang leader's girlfriend.

Ready for a loafing weekend, Larry and Richard turn up at the holiday home only to discover that Bernie is dead. However, the constant flow of people to the house doesn't seem to notice that Bernie is as dead as a dodo and the boys take advantage of the situation. They decide not to let the small issue of a corpse in the house spoil their weekend. However, when they uncover Bernie's plot to kill them they need to act as if Bernie is still alive, with hilarious consequences.

Picture & Sound

The disc is only presented in stereo with a 4:3 aspect ratio which is occasionally grainy and suffers from artefacting. However, the picture is still bright and colourful with an above average bit-rate and remains quite pleasing to the eye. Also, perhaps to reduce the price of the disc - and a trait of the Carlton range of DVDs - no subtitles are available on the disc.

Overall

Some of the titles Carlton have released into the region two domain have, frankly, been rubbish. They have been of poor quality and of little interest. However, Weekend at Bernie's is a wonderful post-beer film guaranteed to raise quite a few laughs. The entire premise is completely ridiculous, but that is also where the film's charm lies. Watching the two hapless heroes attempt to convince everyone that their deceased host is still alive becomes increasingly absurd as the weekend progresses.

Poor Terry Kiser deserves a special mention for his performance as Bernie. Despite spending most of the film playing a corpse, he somehow becomes the centre of many of the funniest moments as his lifeless body is dragged, propped up and manipulated through increasingly outrageous situations. Ok, so the eighties clothes are awful and the picture can be grainy at times, but at a bargain £9.99 what are you waiting for?

Special features

  • Theatrical trailer