WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S

Larry Wilson and Richard Parker are two low-level financial employees at an insurance company in New York City. While reviewing actuarial reports, Richard discovers a series of payments made for the same death. He and Larry take their findings to the CEO, the wealthy and hedonistic Bernie Lomax, who commends them for discovering the insurance fraud and invites them to his beach house in The Hamptons for the Labor Day weekend. Unbeknownst to the pair, Bernie is behind the fraud. Nervously meeting with his mob partner, Vito, Bernie asks to have the two killed to cover up the discovery. After Bernie leaves, Vito instead orders that Bernie be killed for becoming careless with his fraud, and also because Vito's girlfriend Tina is having an affair with Bernie.

Bernie arrives before the pair and plans the murders with hitman Paulie on the phone, accidentally recording the conversation on his answering machine. Paulie arrives and kills Bernie with a lethal heroin injection, then stages it as a self-inflicted accidental drug overdose.

Larry and Richard arrive and find Bernie's body. Before they can call the authorities, guests arrive for a party that Bernie usually hosts every weekend. To the pair's amazement, the guests are too busy partying to notice he is dead, with his dopey grin from the injection and sunglasses concealing his lifeless state. Fearing being implicated in Bernie's death and wanting to enjoy the luxurious house for the weekend, Larry proposes that he and Richard maintain the illusion that Bernie is still alive, which Richard finds absurd. He changes his mind when Gwen Saunders, a summer intern for the company with whom he has a flirtatious relationship, arrives.

After the party, a drunken Tina arrives at the house and demands that the pair direct her to Bernie. However, she also fails to realize the situation and has sex with his corpse. One of Vito's mobsters witnesses this and, mistakenly thinking Bernie's assassination failed, notifies Vito, who sends Paulie back.

The following day, Richard is appalled to discover Larry wearing Bernie's Rolex, and furthering the illusion by puppeteering Bernie's limbs. He attempts to call the police but activates the phone message detailing Bernie's plot against them instead. Unaware of how Bernie died, they mistakenly believe they are still the targets of a mob hit and, as Bernie had said not to kill them while he was in the area, decide to use Bernie's corpse as a shield. All of their attempts to leave the island are thwarted, as they repeatedly misplace and recover Bernie's body, and eventually are forced to return to Bernie's home. Meanwhile, while they are not looking, Paulie makes numerous other assassination attempts and grows unhinged at his repeated "failures".

Gwen, who has been trying to talk to Bernie, observes Larry and Richard with the body, thus forcing them to reveal his death to her. Paulie then arrives and repeatedly shoots the corpse before turning his attention to Larry, Richard, and Gwen. Chasing after them, Paulie corners Larry, who subdues him.

The police arrive and arrest Paulie, taking him away in a straitjacket as he continues to insist Bernie is still alive. Gwen invites Richard to stay with her family for the week while Larry decides to go home to give them space. Bernie's body is loaded into an ambulance. However, the gurney rolls away and topples off the boardwalk, dumping the body onto the beach right behind the three, who run away in terror. Afterwards, a young boy who had buried the body in the sand earlier comes along and starts burying it again.

After a series of farcical attempts to keep Bernie appearing alive and evade the mobster hitman, Larry and Richard ultimately manage to outwit the killer and clear themselves of suspicion.

The ending caps the film’s blend of black comedy and slapstick, affirming that even the most ludicrous cover-up can succeed with enough luck and desperation. Larry and Richard’s ability to survive—and even thrive—in the face of criminal chaos ties up the farce, delivering resolution for both the insurance scam and their own misadventures.