There isn’t a trace of the ironic hipster in Jack Black’s performance in “Bernie,” the murderous anti-hero of Richard Linklater’s comic retelling of one of the more bizarre pieces of recent Texas criminal history.
There’s nothing self-aware about the way he carries himself — a light, effeminate mince — as Bernie Tiede. He doesn’t belt out hymns and gospel songs in church or at funerals. He sings “Just as I Am” and “Amazing Grace” without a wink, without a hint of the Tenacious D/”School of Rock” metal belter you know he pines to be.
And that’s why this is the greatest performance of Black’s career. The rotund funnyman makes us see what the people of Carthage, Texas, saw in Bernie — a model citizen, a friend to all, considerate to a fault, as caring and compassionate a mortician as any family could hope to have.
It’s a shame ol’ Bernie befriended the town’s richest old bitty, accompanied her everywhere, spent her money and eventually filled her full of small-caliber bullet holes. But nobody’s perfect.

Linklater, Black’s “School of Rock” director, creates a sensitive and sympathetic comedy out of this true story from the mid-90s. A woman that nobody liked died. A man almost everybody adored killed her. And a whole town saw the grey in what should have been a black and white, open and shut case.

Linklater mixes actors, playing the principals — Bernie (Black), the wealthy, racist and cruel banker Marjorie Nugent, his victim (Shirley MacLaine, subdued here) and the opportunistic good ol’boy prosecutor (Matthew McConaughey) — with real townsfolk who know Bernie, who knew Mrs. Nugent. They lend the film a drawling drollery that comes close to but never quite reaches mockery. And their words underline Black’s performance.
“He had the ability to make the world seem kind.” “He always made us look good.”
And of Mrs Nugent? “That ol’ heffer — she turned down loans just for a hobby.”
Bernie was the one person who could charm the widowed Mrs. Nugent, but as the film suggests, that was only until she figured out a way to use him as brazenly as he used her. He spent her money the way she should have, and she treated him like property.
Linklater breaks the movie into chapters aimed at answering questions about Bernie — “Was it romantic?” “Was Bernie gay?” A Texan himself, the director has fun at his peoples’ expense, walking the fine line between affectionate ribbing and “rube.”

McConaughey gives a C-student swagger to Danny Buck Davidson, the slick, faintly cunning and manipulative district attorney who knew he’d never get Bernie’s neighbors to convict him. “I’m naturally suspicious,” Danny Buck declares. But his fellow townsfolk aren’t, so he moves the trial to a neighboring one where, as one Carthaginian declares, “They’ve got more tattoos than teeth.”
The supporting performances are so uneven as to make one think more bit players were non-actors than actually were. There’s more restraint here than might have been necessary (a non-Texan would have had a field day with this bunch). Compare “Bernie” to “I Love You Philip Morris,” and spot the edge that this film lacks.
But with Black giving the performance of his life, Linklater sustains the sure touch that has served him so well in such recent work as “Me and Orson Welles.” If Black’s work is a delightful surprise, Linklater can be recognized for maturing into a filmmaker with a good eye, a great ear and a nose for a story that could only be a true story in Texas.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violent images and brief strong language
Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey
Credits: Directed by Richard Linklater, written by Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth, a Millennium Entertainment release. Running time: 1:40