Burn After Reading (the Coen Brothers, 2008): USA

Reviewed by Kevin Tran. Viewed at the Arlington Theater.

Following their academy award winning film, the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading is a hilarious action-oriented comedy that stars some of Hollywood’s best talents. When the news that the Coens would make a comedy after No Country for Old Men, people instantly hoped for this film to be The Big Lebowski that followed Fargo. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. High expectation (as always) never makes a film better and because of this reason, one should watch Burn After Reading without hopes of being wooed or awed.

After being laid off, Osborne Cox (Malkovich) decides to write a memoir of his experience in the C.I.A. The documents fall into the unlikely hands of two gym employees, Chad and Linda (Pitt and McDormand), who scheme to blackmail Cox in order to pay for Linda’s plastic surgery. Meanwhile, Henry (Clooney as an ex-C.I.A. agent) and Katie, (Cox’s wife, played by Swinton) struggle to fit their odd affair into the cluttered plotline of this story set in Washington D.C.

The performances are what you would expect of each incredible actor, with nothing too surprising or spectacular coming from the ensemble. The only exception to this is Richard Jenkins as the awkward, timid gym manager who’s secretly in love with Linda. Although each actor is capable of playing diverse roles, it almost seems as if they were typecasted into Burn After Reading to star as their more memorable on-screen personas, which is fine with me.

Where No Country is long and slow, Burn After Reading clocks in at 96 minutes that flies by quick. Where No Country is often uncomfortably silent, the Coen’s always-witty dialogue seems forever constant in Burn After Reading. However different the two films are, some themes of dark humor and violence still remain, becoming new trademarks within the Coen’s filmmaking.

With the amazing cast and the talented crew that are in front and behind the camera, one wonders why this is not the best film of the year. It’s definitely not as memorable as other Coen Brother films. With that said, Burn After Reading is far from bad. A great start to the fall movie season.


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