Who decided to release all the trailers today? We’ve already had superheroes, supernatural comedies, and campy horror movies, but now comes something completely different: Bernie, a small-scale, fact-based dramedy from Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) starring Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey. We’ve actually seen this movie and it’s a tiny gem, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that from this atrocious trailer, which sells it like a direct-to-video comedy. So let us try to market it to you: Black delivers his most fully realized performance in ages as a flamboyant mortician beloved by everyone in his small Texas town except for a cruel millionaire widow (Shirley MacLaine). Still, he perseveres in winning her over, and though he’s soon her constant companion on exotic trips, she treats him like her slave … until he finally snaps and offs her. At that point, McConaughey gets involved to investigate the murder, but the town closes ranks around Bernie: Sure, he killed somebody, but they like him so much better than they liked her. Now, that’s some unusual southern hospitality.
