Burn After Reading

(2008)

Directed by

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Review by Todd Plucknett

Burn After Reading is the first film that filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have made since their No Country for Old Men took the Best Picture Oscar in 2007. As is normal for the Coens, they completely shifted genres. They go from an intense crime-thriller to a goofy crime-comedy. These guys can do basically anything, and this film, while in no way better than some of their previous pictures, is still a quirkily entertaining and always amusing film.

The plot involves several characters whose lives all intersect in some way. CIA Analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) quits his job after being accused of a drinking problem which resulted in a demotion. He is married to Katie (Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton), who wants a divorce. She is sleeping with Treasury worker Harry Pfarrer (Oscar-winner George Clooney), who also wants a divorce so he can be with Katie. Osborne decides to write a memoir. Katie’s lawyer encourages her to copy all his private financial computer files to a disk, including his memoir. This disk ends up at a gym called Hard Bodies. Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) finds the disk, so he and coworker Linda Litzke (Oscar-winner Frances McDormand) decide to blackmail Osborne to pay for her plastic surgeries. The disk ends up being given to the Russian embassy when the blackmail is hilariously unsuccessful. They need more information, so they break into Osborne’s house. In addition, Linda is someone who spends a lot of time on internet dating sites. She eventually comes across Harry, and they begin a relationship. All these encounters form the basis for this wacky comedy.

The acting here is mostly good. Malkovich steals the show as the quick-tempered Osborne. Swinton is frustratingly underwritten. Clooney is good, playing his quirky character fairly straight. Pitt is a scene-stealer as the hilariously stupid Chad, playing the polar opposite of what we have come to expect from Pitt. McDormand is very funny in a role that is perfectly written for her. Character actors J.K. Simmons and Richard Jenkins bring huge laughs as well. Simmons in particular has few lines, but each one is a punch line. There is no leading character, which may have been one of the problems with the film. I would have liked to see Malkovich in a lot more scenes, since the movie truly shined when he was on screen. If it would have developed him as the lead, it could have been more consistently exciting.

Every character is incredibly dim-witted. Nothing that any of the characters do is rational. At one point, Linda informs Chad that he needs to look classy before he goes to meet with Osborne. He puts on a nice suit, and hops on his bicycle. He rides over to the meeting place with wearing his suit, a helmet, and his ever-present iPod. It is a totally ridiculous and absolutely hilarious scene. This does begin to irritate at some points in the film though. You really have to stretch your logic to accept that someone is really that dumb.

The editing of the film is also highly inconsistent. There are a couple of stretches of tedious scenes that make the running time seem much longer than it actually is. This could be due to the fact that the film peaks with its first scene. I found that opening sequence with Malkovich and his bosses absolutely hysterical and nearly perfect. In many ways, it is like The Big Lebowski for the Coens. They make their brilliant and groundbreaking Oscar contender, and then they make the ensemble crime comedy with modest aspirations. Most of the scenes that do not feature Malkovich, Pitt, or Simmons seem to drag along. However, there is something that is highly underrated in movies that the Coens seemed to have mastered, which is the use of silence. In No Country, there was a long sequence of complete silence following Llewelyn through the desert, and it was remarkable. In Burn After Reading, there are several sequences where characters are with other characters, and nothing is said. For some reason, these scenes stick out as being some of the best in the film. There are plenty of surprises that come throughout the film that keep the audience interested. This of course is joined with the thrill of trying to figure out exactly the Coens are going to wrap it all up. It will most likely not disappoint. It is one of the weaker efforts by the Coens, but it proves that The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty did not mark the end of their success in the genre of comedies. It is not a great movie, but it is solid entertainment by two immensely talented filmmakers with a stellar cast. There are plenty of faults in this film, but the successes outnumber them.

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