YMMV / Weekend at Bernie's

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Moments before his death, it takes a bit for Bernie to react to Paulie asking him for a cigarette. Some have taken this as a sign that Bernie knew that something was up, but was killed before he could fully understand what was about to happen.
• Common Knowledge: It's pretty much a universal belief that the original movie as a whole is about two guys getting into crazy hijinks while dragging around the corpse of their dead boss and pretending that he's still alive. In actuality, Bernie doesn't die until about a third of the way through the film, and the guys spend most of the rest of the movie arguing about whether they should call the police and report Bernie's death.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The mere premise of the film already does that.
• Ho Yay: Despite Larry and Richard having blatant interest in women (The biggest example would be Richard's crush on Gwen), the two have a lot more chemistry than anyone else with their arguments being akin to a bickering couple and Bernie writing his fake suicide note around their dynamic, portraying them as lovers who stole the two million for Larry's sex-change operation.
  • It gets stronger in the sequel once Gwen is out of the picture. Notable moments include a drunken Larry accidentally cuddling Richard in bed and the former being extremely worried and clingy once the latter is on the verge of death.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The name of the film proper has become a term for puppeteering a corpse. "Weekend at Bernie's-ing" in particular sometimes pops up as an improvised verb.
  • The Bernie, a dance based on Bernie's voodoo bobbing, has become notable in pop culture.
  • "That's illegal! What you're doing is illegal!"
• Narm Charm: Both movies have a fanbase simply because they're so ridiculous. Naturally, this is turned up beyond eleven in the sequel. Perhaps surprised that a sequel had even been commissioned, the director made sure it was a Vacation In Audacity, going to the Caribbean and adding a treasure hunt with a liberal helping of Hollywood Voodoo, in addition to using the tagline: "He's still dead!" on the posters. Get the popcorn and enjoy.
• Sequelitis: As mentioned above, one can like the sequel for doubling down on the ridiculousness. But the consensus is that it is a forced attempt at getting more from a joke that was already stretched for a whole movie.
• Squick:
  • The very idea of having and using a human corpse as a puppet in the first place. Yes, even if they had a tactic to slow the process it was still decomposing. Of course, the two films together take place over the course of less than a week — and in the second, Bernie is subjected to a zombification that pretty much throws all the rules out the window.
  • From the first film; even if it's Played for Laughs, the fact remains that Vito's girlfriend — who was canoodling with Bernie while he was alive — has sex with a corpse. Granted, she didn't know he was dead, but it's still pretty disgusting.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Vito. He could have been built up as the overall villain of both movies given that he was basically The Man Behind the Man for Bernie and Paulie, but instead, he's completely forgotten about after his one scene apart from a later phone call.
  • Gwen makes no appearances in the sequel. Not even the decency of being mentioned in dialogue. The sequel just acts like she never even existed. Even in the original film, Gwen is somewhat of a wasted character as she's never involved in the main plot. Not once does she ever get involved with the guys' Of Corpse He's Alive antics with Bernie, even though there is ample opportunity for them to let her into the secret. Her part as the Token Romance for Richard could easily be cut from the film, and nothing would feel out of place.

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