Customer Reviews

Burn After Reading

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(51)
1 star:		(86)

 

 

I just wanted to point out that every single complaint that the one-star reviews dole out are just icing on the cake as far as me totally loving this movie. The characters had no depth? The plot was too amorphous? THAT WAS THE POINT FOLKS. The characters are examples of typical character flaws that are variations on stupidity. You're supposed to enjoy their lives falling apart. I sure as hell did.

I am shocked at the amount of negative reviews here. this is a comedic masterpiece. i think the one star ratings are coming from simpletons that have no clue about truly subtle and intelligent humor. THE ABRUPT ENDING WAS PART OF THE POINT!

THE LACK OF A PLOT WAS PART OF THE POINT!

THE POINT OF THE MOVIE WAS HOW TRULY POINTLESS MOST THINGS ARE!

In their brilliance, the coens were MAKING A POINT BY MAKING A MOVIE WITH NO POINT!

This film is true genius and one of the funniest films I have ever seen. Clooney was a perverted mess and Pitt was genius as a mindless but fun good samaritan. If you know anything about comedy, you will love this film.

After the true genius of No Country For Old Men, the Coen Brothers come back with a whole new dimension. Burn After Reading is a dark comedy about idiots faced with an intelligent and complex situation. Two Gym instructors Linda Litsky (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) find a disc containing the memoirs of ex CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich). They, being idiots think it's a disc containing top secret information and try to bribe Osbourne for money which would help pay for Linda's cosmetic surgery. Things don't go to plan as Osbourne has bigger things on his mind, his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with the paranoid Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney).

This film is actually quite intelligent in its own right, the characters seem well defined and are played superbly. The characters were specifically written for the actor playing them and it really shows.

John Malkovich portrays the agent lost of all hope well, you become quite intimidated by both his intelligence and temper.

George Clooney as the paranoid individual who's having more affairs than you can wave a stick at doesn't falter. He's jumpy, but hey who wouldn't be if you were sleeping with three different women. This eratic behaviour becomes a bit tragic and leads to the death of one of the characters in the film.

Brad Pitt as the loveable and wannabe cunning idiot is fantastic, the facial expressions and general stereotypical dexterity of what we would expect a personal trainer to be really works. This becomes especially amusing when he enters into the bribing game with Malkovich and starts to enter into the character of cunning spy. It has to be seen to be believed.

Frances McDormands character is the real shining light of the whole film as she's the catalyst leading up to the films biggest events. She's a middle aged gym instructor paranoid over the look of her body. While trying to get plastic surgery, she's turned down by her insurance company and is the one that convinces Pitts character to bribe Cox. She's a woman on the edge of giving up on life and wants to take one last leap into the chance of a relationship, but is made even more nervous by her own body insecurities.

The Coens once again create a film that is both surreal and believable, the characters are shockingly brilliant. The scenario is a bit over the top but comes together perfectly. There is something that bothered me, however, and that's the fact that every character in the film seemed to be having an affair with someone else. I don't know, maybe that was the whole point that made the film work. For fans of the Coens this is definitely one that sits proudly in their film catalogue next to such greats as No Country For Old Men and The Big Lebowski. I would strongly recommend it to any film fan overall, it's definitely worth it just for the Brad Pitt & Clooney facial expressions. Be warned though as if you're easily offended by swearing, then you might as well take your pad and pen with you to start writing your complaints letter.

Joel and Ethan Coen make movies that are at right angles to most of the rest of Hollywood. Their dramas, going back to "Blood Simple", have a refreshing splash of humor, and their comedies, going back to "Raising Arizona", have dark elements. The Coen's are so adept at crossing stylishly from one genre to another it is no surprise that their grim Oscar-winning "No Country For Old Men" is followed by this delightfully twisted comedy.

I repeatedly find in Coen comedies characters who are not only entertainly dumb, but (as happens so often in real life, doesn't it?) unaware of their stupidity. (Think back to "The Big Lebowski" and "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?") In "Burn After Reading" the Coens have assembled both performers and characters who are able to rip through a script that would be part hilarious and part ridiculous - ridiculous, that is, if it were not a Coen Brothers movie.

Brad Pitt appears prominently in the film's ad campaign (and he is sublime as an airheaded fitness trainer), but it would be difficult to say he is the "star", as a half dozen characters share as much screen time. John Malkovich brings an edgy profanity to his not-as-smart-as-he-thinks-he-is CIA analyst, who quits rather than take a demotion when his bosses confront him about his drinking problem. Tilda Swinton is superbly cast as his icy wife, not only reprising her White Witch character from "Narnia", but also her cold-blooded lawyer from "Michael Clayton". Swinton plays a pediatrician - the kind that makes children cry and doesn't care. Swinton is having an affair with "Clayton" co-star George Clooney, who once again expertly essays a Coen Clown, this time an ex government protection agent who "never once discharged his weapon" in years of service, but tells another character at a cocktail party that he could use his pistol if needed, because "reflexes take over - it's all muscle memory". (These reflexes complicate the plot in a way that can only be described as Coenesque.) Frances McDormand does much of her best work for husband Joel and brother-in-law Ethan (winning her Oscar in "Fargo"), and here she gets a wonderful role as Pitt's dim-witted fitness center co-worker. McDormand has a poignant but funny early scene where she and a plastic surgeon (the extremely reliable Jeffrey DeMunn from "The Green Mile" and "Law and Order") discuss four separate operations she desperately wants - "I've gone about as far as I can go with this body here..." Richard Jenkins secretly pines for McDormand and tries to let her know he's interested even without the expensive surgery.

A MacGuffin is produced by the Malkovich character, who decides since he's left the CIA to write a memoir. The Swinton character copies Malkovich's computer files planning for divorce and wanting financial records, and the disc which incidentally includes Malkovich's memoirs is found at the gym where Pitt and McDormand work. Dimwit Pitt concludes that this CIA memoir is valuable spy stuff and he conspires with McDormand to offer the disc to the Russians to pay for McDormand's plastic surgery.

"The Russians?!" J.K. Simmons asks in amused confusion as a CIA superior when he is informed by Malkovich's former boss, played by David Rasche. Although they appear only briefly, Simmons and Rasche produce a couple of the film's best scenes, including the side-splitting conclusion where the "loose ends" are tied as only the Coens can. I could say more, but that would deprive you of the pleasure of finding out for yourself.

And you should.

Watching Burn After Reading I got the feeling that the Coens were trying to recapture the quirkiness of Raising Arizona, Fargo and The Big Lebowski. Unfortunately the oddness of those films flowed naturally from the story and the characters were believable in the worlds they were given. In this one it all felt forced.

John Malkovich, George Clooney and Brad Pitt excellently chewed the scenery in their parts, but the movie seemed to lack a central, believable theme to bring the bits together. As it was, it felt like the Coens had some ideas for some wacky characters and tried to come up with a reason to plop them all together in a film. After finishing this, I'd be hard pressed to explain it to someone who hadn't already seen it.

For me at least, this was a funny enough time waster, but not much else. I can't imagine being at a get together with a group of friends and quoting Burn After Reading a year from now.

It's easy to watch a Coen brothers film and leave it wondering exactly what the point was. Their films seem to be exercises in hilarious subtleties, demonstrating humanity's most interesting strengths and weaknesses. The plots sprawl and fray, the characters seem to exist independently of each other, and the whole thing can often come across as slapdash. Or so muted that the only impression it leaves is quizzical.

I've been a huge fan for a long time (ever since I saw Blood Simple, in fact), and I don't believe these guys have ever made a movie that didn't have a serious point to make. Even The Big Lebowski, arguably one of their most absurd works, had a lot to say about the way honest laziness can sometimes thrive in spite of the malicious excesses of those who are more powerful and harder working.

"So, what did we learn?" asks a CIA official at the end of BURN AFTER READING. Well, let's see.

The film begins with CIA analyst Osborne Cox (a spot-on Malkovich) being demoted due to alcoholism. Cox, rather than be disgraced, quits and begins work on his memoirs (between drinks). The CIA keeps tabs on him, and around him suddenly swirls a mess of senseless intrigue that involves a twitchy sex addict who works for the Treasury (George Clooney), a vain and desperate gym employee (Frances McDormand), and her clueless (but Can Do!) buddy, Chad (Brad Pitt). When Cox's memoirs make their way into McDormand's hands, she sees a way to solve her woes by blackmailing the analyst into paying for a bevy of cosmetic surgeries.

Aside from the typically convoluted plot, the film is a dark and dead-pan comedy about how the frailties of adulthood (alcoholism, sexual indiscretions, blind personal vanity) can alter the lives of people who deserve much better. Looked at from head-on, the movie is sorta depressing, even though many of the characters get exactly what they're looking for. That's, of course, not really the point.

Near the end of the film, analyst Cox confronts a person who has become involved in the plot to use his memoirs for personal gain. "You represent the idiocy of this world," he sneers. Making sense of idiocy is something the Coen brothers have been doing for a long, long time, and even if the government agents keeping tabs on all the lies and greed-grubbing don't do such a good job of learning from the craziness, that doesn't mean an astute viewer can't find something to take away from the theatre.

A hilarious exploration of the pathetique. Although I am not a big fan of John Malkovich, this is perhaps one of his best performances. Brad Pitt does a magnificent job playing the role of an ambitious idiot, while coming across as genuine. The characters are diverse, convincing, and so well acted. Do not miss the opportunity to watch this movie. You won't regret it.

A dark comedy about the interactions of several people related to a CIA agent let go by the company. Some folks I know did not find this movie funny; the humor is not overt, but lies in the situations these folks find themselves in as they interact, while the CIA watches with interest, but without a clue.

Another black comedy from the unique minds of the Coen Brothers sees a middle-aged woman trying to finance some cosmetic surgery through unorthodox methods. The plot is clever and does keep you intrigued as each of the 4 main characters are linked to keep you guessing as to the outcome. As performances go Tilda Swenton is great in the 'lead' role with George Clooney and John Malkovich also adding stellar performances. Much is made of Brad Pitt's 'idiot' portrayal, but I thought that it was just an ordinary performance and certainly nothing to rave about. Although this movie is cleverly written, it does not raise it above the level of an average film. The ending is 'sudden' and a bit of an 'anti-climax'. I enjoyed watching it, but after seeing it, it wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest if I passed this one up. Enjoyable but forgettable.

Films by the Brothers Coen are misanthropic, yes, but when the arrogant, avaricious, duplicitous, sex-obsessed, and downright stupid schmucks they create behave so amusingly and meet such bleak ends, I can't stop laughing. Like Fargo and Raising Arizona, Burn After Reading is full of wide-eyed fools colliding with one another and with fate in endless combinations and permutations. Spy thriller meets Laurel & Hardy and riotous misadventure ensues. Give it a try with the right attitude and a cocktail and you may find yourself ROTFLYAO!