Burn After Reading – Review

Reviews, Theatrical Reviews

The Coens follow up last year’s success with a confounding return to form.


Image courtesy of IMPawards.com

Notable Cast: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, David Rasche, J.K. Simmons
Directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

After their raw masterpiece No Country for Old Men the Coen Brothers make a return to their black comedy roots with Burn After Reading a twisty-turny, Macguffin-filled movie basically about nothing. If a viewer doesn’t get on board early it is pretty easy to get left behind by a Coen Brothers film and Burn After Reading is no different. In fact, a typically hilarious performance from J.K. Simmons as a CIA superior knowingly pokes fun at the Brothers’ confusing storytelling.

As usual, the against-type performances from the stellar cast are where the real quality of a Coen Brothers film can be found. In that regard, Burn After Reading is a huge success, but there is always room for complaint about any movie that is confusing for the sake of being so, no matter how tongue-in-cheek it is. Still, it is always a pleasure to see the extra effort actors seem to give for the Coens, particularly George Clooney as former government agent Harry Pfarrer.

Clooney and Richard Jenkins (as Hardbodies Gym manager Ted Treffon) stand out as making their characters seem like they exists even when not on screen, but the rest of the cast comes across as if they drop the act as soon as the cameras stop rolling. That is not to say that they are not good character, the just are not believable characters. The Coens thrive on making mundane day-to-day lives appear to be something worthy of being filmed, but Burn After Reading‘s world is a bit too extreme.

The inevitable comparisons that will be drawn to The Big Lebowski will only serve to emphasis the shortcomings of Burn After Reading. Without turning this into a review of The Big Lebowski, let us just say that the originality of that film is why it is considered by many to be the Coen Brothers’ seminal work. Burn After Reading, on the other hand, has too many pieces of past Coen Brothers efforts, including Lebowski.

As the movie begins, the audience is introduced to fired CIA agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) and his rocky relationship with his unfaithful wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) who is sleeping with the womanizing Harry on the side. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated story, Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) is a Hardbodies Gym employee hoping to get some plastic surgery done, but she doesn’t have the money to do so.

Linda’s luck changes when she and her co-worker Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) stumble upon a CD with files from Osborne’s personal memoirs from his CIA days. The disc in question was made by Katie because her divorce lawyer advises copying Osborne’s files for leverage purposes. Things only become more convoluted from there as Chad and Linda decide to blackmail Osborne in return for his memoirs.

To discuss the rest of the plot would ruin what fun there is to be had watching Burn After Reading, but it is fair to say that characters too often come into contact with one another as it conveniences the plot, and not the other way around. The scenarios that unfold become increasingly contrived and illogical, and the whole proceedings are hurt by the fact that even the characters don’t seem to know what the hell is going on.

True to form, though, even the Coen Brothers’ misfires are appealing in their own quirky way. The concoction of past efforts that is Burn After Reading stands as a reminder of what is good and bad about their work. It is odd that the Coen Brothers’ consistent style from film to film can provide such uneven work throughout their careers. Count Burn After Reading as a minor failure, but it serves as a pleasurable follow-up to their intense Best Picture winner.

FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):