BERNIE **

Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction and if "Bernie" is to be believed then that old adage certainly holds true. Richard Linklater's highly original comedy is based on the real-life case of Bernie Tiede, an apparently thoroughly lovable, deeply religious man who one day shot dead his friend and benefactor Marjorie Nugent, dismembered her corpse and kept it in a freezer for nine months before he was finally caught. The dichotomy was that everyone was on Bernie's side, (he was sweetness personified), while everyone hated the victim who was meanness personified.

Linklater tells Bernie's tale as a kind of faux-documentary with the good people of Carthage, Texas talking directly to the camera, (the townspeople play themselves), and films it as if it were some kind of cartoon come to life. It's a style that suits the material perfectly and he gets first-rate performances from Jack Black (Bernie), Shirley MacLaine (Mrs Nugent) and Matthew McConaughey (the prosecutor). It's very funny though I'm sure there was a conspicuous lack of humour in the real-life scenario and the film remains, rightly or wrongly, very much a tribute to Bernie Tiede. You can't help feeling it's a tribute he deserved.