Burn After Reading
Back to quirky, that’s the best way to describe the Coen Brother’s follow up to their Academy Award Winner, No Country For Old Men. Burn After Reading is far from a serious crime drama like No Country, but if you are a fan of the Coens you know that the comedy genre might be where they shine the brightest.
Burn After Reading centers on the life stories of 5 main characters played admirably by a juggernaut cast. Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand play Chad Feldheimer and Linda Litzke, two personal trainers who are a couple of bumbling self-interested idiots who stumble upon a disk containing secret information of CIA agent Osborne Cox played by John Malkovich. Cox, an alcoholic who has just been fired from his job, finds that his wife wants a divorce and she takes his files feeling they will help her get what she is entitled to in the divorce proceedings. The disk goes missing, the Russians get involved, there is blackmail and corruption galore, and to complicate matters even more Harry Pfarrer played by George Clooney, whose vice seems to be dating websites, entangles the whole cast by sleeping with just about every female in the film. In the end, Burn After Reading accomplishes its task as a quirky intellectual comedy. If you liked the Coens earlier work in the comedy genre (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, and The Hudsucker Proxy) you are sure to like this one.
It is near impossible to receive a good reception on a follow up to an award winner but in this case I think the Coens provide us with a valiant effort. Their direction is masterful as always, and the comic dialogue mixed with impeccable body language proves a perfect marriage to warrant huge laughs from its audience. Burn After Reading is a good but not great film, but it still is well worth viewing. I had a lot of fun with this film and therefore give it 4 “R’s” out of 5.
Ryan’s Reviews rates films on an “R” scale, 1 “R” being worst 5 “R” being best.
(Ryan also writes for The Stylus the official newspaper of the College at Brockport State University of New York where this review first appeared.)
Very good review. As a fan of the Coen brothers, I felt that the author is a die-hard fanatic and shares the same views of their work as I do. The synopsis was informative but without giving away too much. Based on the trailers, I was not convinced that this was going to be a return to glory for the Coen brother comedy. However, judging from this review, I am excited to see the movie. I will be turning to this author’s reviews in the future for some sound movie-going advice.
I think I speak for all the women in the world – all you had to say was that this movie stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Based on that info alone, I’m going to see the movie. But thanks for the insight into the storyline, that helped too. Good job!
Awesome. I am going to see it this weekend. I am excited now!