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No, it isn’t as good as the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, but Burn after Reading is a perfect follow-up to the previous year’s Oscar winner nonetheless. No Country for Old Men, a drama about a rancher who finds a stolen case full of cash, is their greatest film. Burn after Reading, about a giddy physical trainer (Brad Pitt) who finds a CD containing the memoir of an ex-CIA analyst played by John Malkovich, is their best pure comedy yet.
That is an over-simplification. Burn after Reading is a meticulously scripted pretzel of a film full of incident and surprises. It’s about many things. As George Clooney puts it, “It’s about shockingly dumb people in Washington, but it’s not a political film at all. It’s about people doing dumb things.”
Ethan Coen, who wrote and directed the film with his brother Joel, described it as about, “spy stuff and intrigue. That we haven’t done before. It’s a Tony Scott, Bourne Identity kind of picture without the explosions.”
In the opening shots, Burn after Reading seems like a parody not of James Bond movies but of serious spy capers like the Jason Bourne series. The soundtrack is deliberately over intense for the farce that surrounds it.
To attempt describing the plot of Burn after Reading would be an exercise in futility. It’s enough to know that what makes it funny is that every character thinks they are ahead of the game before discovering that they too have been played. The Coens do justice to their excellent cast. It’s Malkovich’s best role in nearly a decade, Clooney’s funniest turn to date, and yet another nugget in Brad Pitt’s belt.
Take Brad Pitt as the hyper gym coach Chad. Those who say that this is an atypical role for Pitt fail to realizes that there no such thing as a typical Brad Pitt performance. One of his most admirable qualities as an actor is his consistent creativity. So far he’s played a detective chasing a serial killer, a ravaging plague survivor, Death, the imaginary leader of an underground fight club, and an Appalachian Nazi-hunter. So why is his Chad, best friend to his lovesick colleague Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), considered atypical?
Pitt doesn’t play him as a one-joke stereotype. Chad is equal parts caring friend, shallow fitness buff, and enthusiastic. But he’s way over his head and too naïve for a guy who suddenly finds himself in international scandal.
Chad’s only experience with politics comes from the movies. He conducts his first contact with Osbourne Cox (Malkovich) as if he were living a celluloid political thriller and the two (the real CIA analyst and the phony) aren’t even on the same page. The first thing we notice when they finally meet in person is how uncomfortable Chad feels in a suit, almost as much as Pitt’s Aldo Raine would in Inglourious Basterds.
Linda is lonely and none of her dates amount to much. To her, the answer to her problems is cosmetic surgery, but the gym’s HMO plan won’t cover it. Besides, her pitiful manager (Richard Jenkins), who not-so-secretly lusts for her, thinks she looks beautiful just the way she is. When Chad discovers the CD containing private memories of the ex-CIA agent in the locker room, he and Linda see an opportunity to make a fortune.
It’s the movie’s mistake to assume we like Linda. She’s shallow, not above extortion, and more than a little dumb. That’s not really the issue, however. This is a Coen movie after all. Instead, the problem with Linda is that she’s simply a stock insecure woman and McDormand whines so much through the role that she renders the character grating.
The world of government officials provides delightful stereotypes by contrast. Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) was recently fired from the agency due to a drinking problem. Life at home isn’t much better. His conniving wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with Harry, a Treasury guy played by George Clooney, who is also married. Clooney’s performance as Harry is one of his funniest and most daring. Harry is a neurotic hypochondriac that is cheating not only on his wife, but also on his mistress Katie with women he meets off a dating site. In an unusual way it breaks the idyllic image of George Clooney.
Everyone backstabs someone else and the fun of this film comes both from watching these imbeciles collide and from their realization that they aren’t as smart as they thought they were. Chad and Linda find out, for instance, that Cox isn’t as eager to pay their demand for the CD as they expected. The best moment in Burn after Reading is the hilarious three way call between Chad, Linda, and the puzzled Cox. Malkovich is in top form as the short-fused Cox and here he peaks upon each fall-out with Pitt. Chad and Linda are again disappointed when they try to sell the CD to the Russian embassy. The information contained on the disc was not as valuable as they imagined.
Eventually, almost everyone in Burn after Reading gets some sort of comeuppance. Chad’s search for further evidence comes to a grim end. When the calculating Katie becomes too overbearing, the philandering Harry realizes how much he loves his wife…only to discover that she isn’t quite faithful herself. Of all the people here, Harry and Katie are the two most deserving of a Coen bruising. Ironically, they are the ones that get off the easiest. Nothing happens to Katie and Harry simply loses his sanity when his paranoia overcomes him. By contrast, Osbourne Cox and Ted (Richard Jenkins), the gym manager, who have more or less played fair, meet at the worst possible moment in their lives and their encounter ends tragically for both of them. And as for Linda? Well, she is disappointed by a man one more time in the end.
It’s amazing how well the Coens can unravel such a tangled plot in a brisk hour and a half. There isn’t a moment of boredom in Burn after Reading and everyone is a joy to watch throughout. Brad Pitt may deliver the most memorable performance but the funniest turn is by George Clooney. Like Cary Grant, Clooney isn’t afraid to make himself a clown when a movie is worth his while. Joining this amazing ensemble are David Rasche and J.K. Simmons as two befuddled CIA agents trying to make sense of the whole mess. Their function in the film is particularly interesting. They are trying to follow along with the audience, but the audience has an advantage over them. We know what happened and can laugh at their confusion. They are just another wonderful detail in this gem from the creative minds of the Coen Brothers.

you know…its like, the coen brothers gain your trust, and then they pull some shit like they did with ‘Burn After Reading’. This movie is a tough one because on one hand, its probably one of the most pointless movies made in a LONG time. But at the same time, i found myself laughing a lot while watching the movie. The thing is, i was tricked (just like anyone else who’s seen this movie). You think the first half of this movie is leading up to something, then it just turns in to a SILLY MESS, and it just…ends. Seriously, if you went ‘huh?’ at the very ending of ‘no country for old men’, the ending of ‘burn after reading’ will probably give you a fucking migraine brought on by confusion, anger and the realization that you could have spent the 12 dollars you paid for the movie ticket on a cheap dvd or something. I mean, peep the plot takes a deep breath : brad pitt and frances mcdormand stumble on a lost cd that was misplaced by John Malkovich’s wife’s lawyers’s assistant, which they believe has secret government information on it. Because Malkovich’s name is on the cd, pitt and mcdormand contact and try to blackmail him for money in exchange for the disc. MEANWHILE, Malkovich’s wife (played by tilda swinton) is in the process of secretly divorcing him AND having an affair with George Clooney. keep up with me In addition to THAT, George Clooney cruises the internet looking for lonely women to have sex with. He eventually links up with Mcdormand through an internet dating service, and has an affair with her (all while being married AND having his other affair with John Malkovich’s wife). Then a bunch of other shit happenes. Its like the coen brothers tried to revisit the multi-character, complex (yet easy to follow) format of ‘big lebowski’, but they failed at it. The one thing i can say about the movie is that next to ‘12 monkey’s’, this is the best thing Brad Pitt has ever done. You dont get that vibe from the trailer, but trust me. He’s funny as hell. But no matter what i say, you’re all gonna go see it, because its the coen brothers, and you all blindly love whatever they do, no matter how bad it is…..

I actually really like this and think it’s a very different type of comedy than you might expect. It’s got a lot of kooky characters that aren’t exactly what you call clever trying to do so. In most stories you do away with some of the faults and misgivings of a character to make them seem more honorable or upstanding, however this only accentuates their faults. It has a lot of great performances, but my favorite were from George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The story unfolds in very surprising manner, something is always catching you off guard and moving around to change the outcome. It’s extremely impressive and a great return to the Coen Brother’s original type of comedy.

To be honest this is sub par Coens but even then there still hitting above what most other filmmakers do at their worst. It’s much better than either Intolerable Cruelty or the pointless Ladykillers remake and it maintains an credible amount of amusement. Its well made like all their other films with Emmanuel Lubezki’s skewered phototgraphy and Carter Burwell’s paranoid score underlying the comedic elements wonderfully. While Clooney and McDormand feel like there trying to hard (and Tilda Swinton utterly wasted) its a film carried by some superb supporting roles such as Pitt, Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, David Rasche and JK Simmons. The comedy works best at a dark and subversive level like all the Coens best but gets a little lost when they get too farcical such as the basement chair. Again this is below Coen standards but if only all their lesser works were this much brezzy fun

Burn After Reading is a Coen movie for Coen fans, and that’s that. If you relish the Coen’s trademark larger than life approach to the mundane and namely darker side of human nature, then there’s no reason why Burn After Reading won’t at least intrigue you. Admittedly it took three viewings for me to appreciate the film as an ingenious comedy, because at first glance I had nothing but contempt for the film. I thought it shared some similarities with No Country For Old Men that really didn’t sit well with me in the theater. However, taking a step back and thinking about the Coen’s career as a whole, this is another brilliant farce with a superb cast. Malkovich, Clooney and Pitt steal the show here. Each one gets more ridiculous than the next as their scenes progress through the film, and it’s absolutely hilarious to watch. Many have compared the film to Lebowski stylistically, but I found more in common with the inherent idiocy of Raising Arizona’s cast. If you like/love the Coens like I do, then this is a solid entry into their catalog. It’s not perfect like, say, Lebowski, but it’s better than 90% of what’s peddled for comedy these days.

A film of many brilliant comedic setups, but some dark revelations in the second half could cause viewers to think back on what has gone before and a few things that were previously hilarious suddenly become sad … perhaps even tragic.

The result is a silly and grim tale with dark shades of film noir in the finale, ending with what has become a typical flourish of fatalism. There are laughs aplenty throughout, but the lasting impressions are thoughts of just how insane this nutty world really is. A truthful observation, but one that all of us already know too well.

The real questions is “Is making a movie about pointless movies pointless?” I think that what they have achieved with this picture is unprecedented and groundbreaking. It does feel like a pointless movie the first time around, but you soon find out that the brothers are making fun of critics who acclaim pop-corn movies and praise good films to a ridiculous extent, as well as the audiences who are satisfied with empty plot and lots of meaningless action.

I’ll give this a 2 because of the cast, and the color coordination, and the fact that I got truly shocked by what happened between Clooney’s character and Pitt’s character, but this movie was so not good. So not good, that, I feel really awkward right now. I wasn’t expecting much, due to the previews that I saw a while back, but this was so below what I already didn’t expect. Does that make sense? And why all the cursing? Seriously, every other word was “fucker”. From the start, the music and the typing, I knew this wouldn’t be good.

This is the most hilarious Coen Bros. movie since the Big Lebowski. It’s very similar with its convoluted plot and bumbling idiotic characters. I’ve seen Burn After Reading at least four times now and I still laugh my ass off every time I watch it. Brad Pitt and John Malkovich are hysterically funny. Some may think that the excessive profanity is pointless, but I don’t care. It makes me laugh like few other movies I’ve ever seen.

Last year’s No Country for Old Men showed the world that the Coen Brothers could make a great film. After a pair of not-so-good flicks, no one really cared about them, two creative geniuses that crafted some of cinema’s best black comedies of the 80s and 90s. Then came the Oscar winner, showing an attention to detail and precision pacing worthy of the accolades if not, in my opinion, the best film of the year. But it was so serious and unlike anything they had ever done; yes it had some very subtle laughs, however, it was a drama from start to finish. So, when the trailers for Burn After Reading hit the airwaves, I wasn’t quite sure what I would get. It looked as though the Coens of yesteryear were truly back, mixing their quirky brand of wit with an underlying plot dealing with crime and blackmail. Did those thoughts come to fruition? You bet they did. This ranks with Miller’s Crossing and Fargo as one of their best dark comedies. The runtime may drag a bit at times, but I think that may actually enhance the humor, feigning suspense and hitting us over the head with laughter.

It’s a very smart script with some really fantastic performances, many of which are somewhat against type for the actor. Richard Jenkins is possibly the most obvious, playing a gym manager with no backbone whatsoever. He exudes fear, curling up into a ball when the slightest inclination of danger rears its head; a definite departure for someone used to playing strong, intelligent men. There is also Brad Pitt as a gym employee and co-mastermind behind the insane blackmail plot that the film revolves around. The filmmakers do nothing to make him look any younger than his actual age, and yet they have him act as though he is a child. Constantly dancing and jumping and being absolutely giddy with excitement, he is a little boy doing rather than thinking. The little things like complaining when he must wear a suit, or his juvenile disappointment when his reward demands go unresolved, or even his contemptuous, pompous laugh when his bike is demeaned—“You think that’s a Schwinn?”—only makes the role funnier because Pitt is almost always the calm collected one in films.

Then there is George Clooney, who actually carries the film, something you wouldn’t think from the trailers. When the credits began and he was first billed, I was a tad confused. I had thought he would be a small role compared to the trio of Pitt, Frances McDormand, and John Malkovich when in fact he is the common factor linking them all. Clooney is a mess of nerves, constantly paranoid, a security Marshall in the treasury department who seemingly does no work. If the CIA operatives that we cut to every now and then didn’t mention his job, I would have believed he made it up—the guy just walks around with his gun, (never fired in 20 years on the job…hmmm, that’s not a bit of foreshadowing is it?), has relations with multiple women, and spends his time welding something very intriguing in his basement. Watching him off-kilter and not fully composed is a welcome change of pace in his canon of work, while being par for the course here as no one really has it all together.

It is the slight imbecility of each character that allows the story to push forward. As J.K. Simmons’ CIA Chief constantly agrees with, everyone is confused about what’s going on. These people are all out of their leagues, causing unnecessary trouble, bringing the Russians into the fold, and leaving dead bodies. One of the best lines is when he utters, “well we learned something here, not to do that again … whatever it was we did.” Everything happens due to the random forgetfulness of a divorce lawyer’s secretary. She accidentally leaves a disc at the gym containing the memoirs of her boss’s client’s husband, a former CIA analyst (Malkovich in a nicely dangerous and angry role). The utter stupidity of the morons working at Hardbodies cause a chain reaction that unravels the lies and deceit running rampant through everyone’s sordid and sad lives. They are all self-absorbed in their own pursuits of happiness that everything becomes excellent fodder for intelligent comedy, not needing to rely on physical humor. Although those few instances of it, Malkovich punching Pitt for one, do succeed.

To speak about the multiple intertwining of players would ruin some of the surprises that occur, but let’s just say everyone ends up meeting the others at some point, either face to face or by reputation. A comedy of errors, the lack of smarts for most roles rivals that in Raising Arizona, but the plot here is so much more detailed. It is a story that could have been taken seriously, but because of the insanity of what goes on, the confusion for which everything hinges on, the comedy bent is the only way to go. There are some surprises, Clooney’s invention and of course his encounter with Pitt, but mostly it is the waiting to see how far the farce will go that keeps you in the seat. We as the audience know that it all depends on a disc with unimportant information, so the real fun comes from seeing if everyone in the film will realize it as well. David Rasche and Simmons’ brief interludes, (I really love the CIA scenes with the echoing footsteps and stark white walls), are the glue that keeps everything sane. Those two trying to wrap their heads around what is happening may be read into as a commentary on the stupidity of our government, but to me, because they just can’t fathom what is going on around them—not because they don’t know the details, they just can’t comprehend the ultimate goal—it is more a comment on how stupid civilians are. Trying to grab cash anyway they can, people will do anything, especially things without any sound judgment at all.

Haven’t seen many of the Coen brothers films yet, only No Country for Old Men and O, Brother Where Art Thou?. My wife was explaining to me based on some other pictures of theirs that it is tragic comedy. You sit back and become close to the characters, innocently enjoying the comedy, then things go wrong, ultimately ending in tragedy. What can I say? I didn’t love this movie. I don’t appreciate it’s explicit meaninglessness. I did laugh at quite a few parts including the CIA men discussing how meaningless it all was. Laughing at this made me realize what a waste it all was. Brad Pitt made you pay attention to him whenever he was on screen, a funny funny role. I really don’t think I’m a prude when it comes to violence or language in movies, but the hatchet scene near the end was just too much and Malkovich is excessive with the F-bomb. You will laugh unless you’re like McDormand’s first humorless dating site hookup Alan. But besides a few minor lessons in infidelity, stupidity, and greed there is nothing.