By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

Let’s take a brief time-out from the non-stop string of blockbusters for a film that will make decidedly less than $100 million during its theatrical release, but it’s probably better than most films you will see this summer.

Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black star in Richard Linklater’s  (School of Rock, Dazed and Confused, Before Sunset) Bernie, a true tale about a 30-something gay guy who befriends a cantankerous old lady in a small Texas town and eventually murders her.

Think Driving Miss Daisy, only Marjorie Nugent (MacLaine) is much more nasty.

Linklater handles this in almost mockumentary style, with lots of interviews (some of them are residents of Carthage, Tex. where the murder took place) so it sort of has the feel of a Christopher Guest (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) film.

Black is perfect as the prim and proper Bernie Tiede, who is an assistant director at a funeral home. Bernie is a favorite with all the widows in town, bringing them flowers and little baskets of soap. They all love him.

But when Marjorie’s husband dies, the ever-nasty (and very rich) woman is not taken in by his soap baskets and flowers — at least not at first.

After a few attempts at friendship, Marjorie finally lets him into her home, and soon they are inseparable. Bernie and Marjorie travel the world together and he handles most of her finances. But if you can believe the story, Bernie doesn’t seem to be in it to steal the old lady’s money (the original magazine story is probably closer to the truth). He genuinely is fond of her, even though she berates him every chance she gets.

After months of months of mistreatment, Bernie finally cracks and shoots the 81-year-old lady four or five times in the back. He then hides her body in a freezer and tells everyone she has gone away for a while.

This really isn’t giving away much plot detail, even it appears to be so. Going in, you just as well know that this is a story about murder. But it is all in the telling.

Black has the easy job here. He is quite likeable as the guy who just wants to please and be liked. If he isn’t making the widows happy, he is on stage at the local community theater — directing and singing.

MacLaine, on the other hand, is horrible. The performance is good, as you might expect, but you probably can’t wait for her to die.

The third major actor in the film is Matthew McConaughey (he got his start with Linklater in Dazed and Confused), also gets one of his best roles in a while as the county District Attorney Danny Buck.

After they find the old lady’s body in the freezer under frozen packages of corn and beans, most of the townsfolk (in all of those interviews) say what a kind, gentle soul Bernie is, how he will be first in line to heaven, even if he is a bit “light in his loafers” as some of the Carthage male residents note.

Bernie may be loved by the town, but Buck is determined to prosecute him for first degree murder. Bernie is so well liked by the town’s residences, that in an amazing switch in the usual jury proceedings, the trial is moved more than 50 miles away, to another district, because he is too well liked.

Linklater handles all of this rather matter-of-factly. This is a comedy, but the director, who also co-wrote, handles it much like the Coen brothers did in Fargo: He just lets the story unfold in its own crazy way.

Bernie opens this weekend with an exclusive engagement at the Enzian theater in Maitland.

Critic's rating: B

Bernie is rated PG-13