WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S from 20TH CENTURY FOX (1989). It stars Jonathon Silverman, Andrew McCarthy and Terry Kiser. The production climbed to $15 million and it hit $30 million at the box office. It's considered a Black Comedy.
The story surrounds two young men at a New York insurance company. They discover someone inside the company has embezzled a huge amount of money. Both of them tell their boss Bernie who is the actual embezzler. He decides to put a contract "hit" on his two workers. He invites them to his expensive home and then turns up dead himself. The co-workers show up to find Bernie and to keep the police at bay. They carry around his dead body and act like he's alive.
Terry Kiser portrayed Bernie in the film who spent the whole time as a dead corpse. He only used a stunt man when he got sick from the medication he took after an on-set accident. He also cracked three ribs during production.
"Weekend at Bernie's" went on to become a best selling "rental" on VHS Home Video (Long before the Internet). It has been reported that the film made millions more. A lawsuit was filed by the film's director and screenwriter. They claimed that they never got profits after the success of the movie.
There was a sequel "Weekend at Bernie's II" (1993). Silverman, McCarthy and Kiser reprised their roles, but it wasn't a success. The production budget reached $17 million and didn't break even by making only $12 million at the box office.
I finally watched it on Blu-Ray after all of these years. Because it is a black comedy. There are some very funny moments. It has become a cult classic especially with stand up comedians.
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