The Coen brothers return after their Academy Award darling, "No Country For Old Men," with the CIA sex farce "Burn After Reading"; or, as the CIA superior (J.K. Simmons) in the film describes, it's a movie about a "league of morons."
Stocked with A-List actors, including George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt, "Burn After Reading" is the blackest of black comedies. Like most of the films created by the brothers Coen, this movie takes the audience on an unpredictable ride, and nobody knows where it is leading.
When CIA analyst Osborne Cox (Malkovich) steps down from his duties after being demoted for having a drinking problem (which he angrily denies), his wife, Katie (Swinton), decides to divorce him. She copies all his financial records on their computer, and the disk turns up at the aptly titled Hardbodies Gym.
Gym employees Linda Litzke (McDormand), an insecure middle-aged woman whose life goal is to get four different plastic surgeries, and Chad Feldheimer (Pitt), a hyperactive exercise nut, find the disk and assume it contains top-secret CIA information about someone "very high up." They decide to blackmail Osborne when they find out the records belong to him. In the midst of everything, Litzke begins an affair with Katie's lover, Harry Pfarrar (Clooney).
If it sounds complicated, that's because it is. The Coen brothers' common theme of fate and chance is present again in this film as all of these idiotic people's lives intertwine. Mistakes are made, misunderstandings become fatal, people get killed and everyone eventually cracks. Although the Coens swear the film is not a satire of political paranoia, "Burn After Reading" is very much about how dumb people can get when they think their lives are in danger or, better yet, when they can get rich.
This is the first original script written by the Coen brothers since 2001's "The Man Who Wasn't There," and the film is essentially about nothing. The stories continue to get more confusing, and none of the characters ever really understands what exactly is going on. This is not a flaw in the Coens' script but the whole plot. When a CIA superior is made aware of the whole situation, he orders the informant to report back to him when something "makes sense."
The idea is humorous, but, unfortunately, the film can fall slightly flat in certain areas. The jokes are hit and miss, but many do hit hard. The scene in which Feldheimer calls Osborne in the middle of the night to tell him they had the disk is especially funny when Feldheimer just starts repeating Osborne's name in order to sound intimidating. That moment might just be worth the ticket price.
The actors in the film are all at the top of their games. Malkovich never disappoints, and his amusing downward spiral into insanity is played to perfection. Clooney is wickedly funny as a foolish womanizer who is absolutely sure he is being followed at every minute. The ladies of the film, McDormand and Swinton, are marvelous in their roles, especially McDormand who proves once again why she is one of today's greatest actresses.
It is Pitt, however, who steals the movie and garners the majority of the big laughs. His turn as a hyperactive, iPod-packing, Java Juice-drinking, dim-witted muscle geek is a gift from the acting gods. His trademark cool is totally M.I.A. in this film, and he is glorious specifically in his scenes with Malkovich. The acting saves the film from becoming a completely self-indulgent, satirical mind-buster.
Although it is smart and amusing, "Burn After Reading" pales in comparison to other Coen brothers comedies like "The Big Lebowski." It is the kind of film that is merely good when it could have been great. But Joel and Ethan Coen have enough Oscars to allow them the pleasure of making one movie for themselves every once and a while.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
