"Burn After Reading" Review
| Movie: Burn After Reading * Trailer * Official Site | In Theaters: Sept. 12, 2008 |
| Runtime: 96 minutes | Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen |
| MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence | Gecko Rating: |
After such hits as Fargo, Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou, and last year’s mega-blockbuster No Country for Old Men, I always go into a Coen Brothers movie with a lot of anticipation. Sadly, Burn After Reading doesn’t deliver the goods. It’s not a bad movie, even funny and touching in some parts. But I didn’t come away with that Wow! feeling, like I’ve done with other Coen movies.
More after the jump…
It’s an ensemble dramedy that follows the lives of several people, all of whom are connected in one way or another.
John Malkovich is a CIA analyst who gets fired and decides to write a tell-all memoir. His tightly-wound wife (Tilda Swinton), schemes to divorce him in favor of her married lover, federal marshal George Clooney, under the false assumption that Clooney will leave his author-wife (Elizabeth Marvel).
Meanwhile, Frances McDormand is a sports gym employee who’s obsessing over her imperfect body and considering plastic surgery. She’s oblivious to the fact that her boss (Richard Jenkins, who played the dad on Six Feet Under) is crazy about her.
When a computer disk containing the CIA analyst’s first draft falls into her hands, she and fellow employee (a dorky Brad Pitt) scheme to blackmail the author.
It’s all a bit convoluted, and doesn’t mesh as well as other Coen Brothers films where several characters all come together at some point.
Most of the interest comes from the characters’ quirkiness: Pitt’s gum-chewing, aerobics-obsessed gym rat; Clooney’s happy-go-lucky slut; Swinton’s anal-retentive pediatrician; McDormand’s body-obsessed, Internet-dating gym employee; John Malkovich’s ex-CIA alcoholic, eyeing the clock until precisely 5 p.m., when he mixes his first drink.
This movie is worth seeing for the diverse characters involved, but don’t expect to come away thinking it’s one of the Coen Brothers’ best.
Note to Parents: This movie has plenty of swearing, a few sex and after-sex scenes, and a particularly graphic device that Clooney is building in his basement. There’s also some sudden violence that I didn’t see coming. In short, this movie isn’t appropriate for anyone younger than 16.
Images: Burn After Reading, Focus Features, 2008
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3 opinions for "Burn After Reading" Review
Box Office: Sept. 12-14, 2008
Sep 15, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[...] I wasn’t all that crazy about “Burn After Reading,” it’s still the best new movie in theaters this weekend. I guess everyone else felt that way, [...]
Box Office: Oct. 3 - 5, 2008
Oct 7, 2008 at 8:41 pm
[...] 7-Burn After Reading, $4.12M [...]
"Burn After Reading" – Making Brad Pitt look dorky – VIDEO
Jan 6, 2009 at 12:10 am
[...] I wasn’t all that crazy about "Burn After Reading." It was ok, but with the cast and filmmakers (Joel and Ethan Coen), I expected more. Still, just the cast alone – including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Frances McDormand – is worth seeing. Read my review here. [...]
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