Richard Linklater returns to his small-town Texas roots for this unpredictable, witty, funny-peculiar true tale of a popular mortician and his doomed friendship with a wealthy widow. Jack Black adds a slippery, obsequious veneer to his usual lovable doofus as Bernie, the most popular and generous guy in the town of Carthage, whose one act of unkindness is unfortunately both extreme and highly illegal. Despite its roots in a real tale, this is an unashamedly playful and idiosyncratic film for Linklater, closer to the Wes Anderson of Rushmore than to his own back catalogue. The result is slight and sometimes awkward – but very funny and lovingly presented.

Tom Huddleston

From Time Out London

Dir Richard Linklater, category IIA, 104 mins, opens on Thu Sep 13