Weekend at Bernie's

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Weekend at Bernie's

PG-13

1989

1h 37m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

27 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Fun-loving salesmen Richard and Larry are invited by their boss, Bernie, to stay the weekend at his posh beach house. Little do they know that Bernie is the perpetrator of a fraud they've uncovered and is arranging to have them killed. When the plan backfires and Bernie is killed instead, the buddies decide not to let a little death spoil their vacation. They pretend Bernie is still alive, leading to hijinks and corpse desecration galore.

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Critics Consensus

Weekend at Bernie's wrings a surprising amount of laughs out of its corpse-driven slapstick premise, but one joke can only carry a film so far.

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Duane Byrge

The Hollywood Reporter

Jul 5, 2017

Bernie's is good old, knock-down slapstick with just the right dose of cruelty thrown in.

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Nov 24, 2002

4/5

A classic of the dumb, hit-on-the-head comedy genre!

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jan 1, 2000

1/4

Weekend at Bernie's makes two mistakes: It gives us a joke that isn't very funny, and it expects the joke to carry an entire movie.

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Josh Mooney

Movieline

Sep 16, 2025

The film lacks the biting wit that would have made it substantial.

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Mike Ryan

Uproxx

Sep 14, 2022

Weekend at Bernie's does a pretty good job of meticulously setting up why two numbskulls hang out with a dead body.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Jul 11, 2022

Weekend at Bernie's is a suffocating, repeating, offensive funeral [Full review in Spanish].

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Robert P

@Superbad 2 days ago

I loved this movie but it's only worthy of 3 stars!

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Robert H

@Rwhobbs198 Aug 29, 2026

Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) is one I somehow missed growing up, even though I remember watching the sequel as a kid and finding it awkwardly hilarious. The original has an undeniably strange premise, and some of the humor—especially involving Bernie’s corpse and the sexual jokes—lands more awkwardly than funny today. It’s very much a product of late-’80s comedy, with plenty of absurdity that probably went right over my head when I was younger. I definitely laughed, and the movie has its moments, but it’s goofy, ridiculous, and not something I feel much need to revisit. A weirdly entertaining one-and-done at best.

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Joel H

@786Joel Aug 17, 2026

Weekend at Bernie’s is one of those zany 80s comedies that probably shouldn’t have worked, but somehow it does. I’m not saying it’s one of the greatest films of that time, but it definitely made a cultural impact. Even though the premise is ridiculous, and everything seems to become more and more implausible over the runtime, it really tries to justify what is happening and keep the story alive. Given the comedically morbid nature of this movie, I understand why it appealed to me as a kid, but I’m still not entirely sure how Weekend at Bernie’s made its way into my regular movie watching rotation.

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Ryan G

@wab_fan_forever Aug 3, 2026

The perfect movie to close out the decade of the 1980s. It's everlasting laughs and staying power have proven that this one Summer weekend has truly never ended and we are all better off for it.

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Chris H

@hoppchopp Jul 23, 2026

One of the best movies of all time, these ratings are a travesty, this is awesome, What your are doing is illlegal, or richards butler , his dad haha, lay out my suit how about i lay you out, ive been here before, i trained you, haha

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Erik B

@Atma-X Feb 16, 2026

Cheesy and 100% the 80's...but still a classic. Check your reason and belief at the door and enjoy some stupid chuckles.

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Ted Kotcheff

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Andrew McCarthy

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Jonathan Silverman

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Synopsis

Fun-loving salesmen Richard and Larry are invited by their boss, Bernie, to stay the weekend at his posh beach house. Little do they know that Bernie is the perpetrator of a fraud they've uncovered and is arranging to have them killed. When the plan backfires and Bernie is killed instead, the buddies decide not to let a little death spoil their vacation. They pretend Bernie is still alive, leading to hijinks and corpse desecration galore.

Director: Ted Kotcheff
Producer: Victor Drai, Bruce McNall
Screenwriter: Robert Klane
Production Co: Gladden Entertainment
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 9, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $29.4M
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Surround

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