Burn After Reading: Review By SupermanEmpire

When you think of the definitive filmmakers of this time the Academy

Award winning Coen brothers have certainly snuck up and written their names into the preverbal wet cement of Hollywood before it ever had a chance to dry. These two storytellers have a style, genre and dimension all their own. When you watch a Joel and Ethan Coen film, it’s certainly not mistaken for anyone else’s work. They have produced, written, and directed some of the most original, eccentric, and truly “outside of the box” films ever. Just to name a few Fargo (Academy Award Winner), Oh Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Labowski, The Ladykillers (completely underrated and one of my favorites by the Coen’s), and the more recent No Country For Old Men (which was heralded by critics but was one of my least favorite of the Coen’s work). Truly any filmmaker would die to have a body of work this broad, complex, and truly original. On top of all of these things this material has sound moments of suspense, wit, and truly some of the greatest dark-comedy that again, has every been filmed. I personally hold the Coen’s talent and execution of that talent in high regard, and like any fan of their work I have a pretty high standard for any new work they do only because of the caliber they are capable of. I had mentioned that No Country for Old Men was my least favorite of the Coen’s body of art. The reason for this was because the Coen’s seemed a bit out of their element. The film was a serious picture with serious themes which left very little room for them to work that eccentric, dark comedy theme that is a master stroke for them. The film was good, they adapted it well from the book and certainly made a star out of Oscar winner Javier Bardem who played the one dark, eccentric and tragically humorous (do you see a theme here) character in that film. Now we lead into the Coen’s follow up to No Country with the subtle surprise Burn After Reading, which in a Steven Soderbergh like fashion, brings together Hollywood’s “A” lister's in George Clooney, Brad Pit, and John Malkovich and pairs them with a couple Coen Brothers acting staples, Frances McDormand (whom they made a star with Fargo) and JK Simmons (whom had my favorite role in LadyKillers). The surprise of this film is that the Coen’s, after churning out a deep dark drama in No Country, actually decided to get back to what they like and have fun doing in an off-beat, strange, sometimes uncomfortable and always hilarious dark comedy about how the cogs don’t always quite fit in the clockwork that is our countries intelligence operations. As a matter of fact they certainly use a lot of character comedy to play off from the pun word that is “intelligence” and do so in a succinct, well-paced fashion. The other thing about Burn that makes it a joke of and in itself is that it’s formatted and flows like a real action spy-thriller, even the music has a fast, quickening boom that makes you feel like your watching a Bourne movie or an episode of 24 and that alone had me giggling. I wouldn’t say this film is an inside look at how the CIA really works, its more like an inside-upside down-flipped around look at how the CIA appears to work from the outside looking in. It’s also touches upon some other American pop fluff like the gym craze, “elective” plastic surgery, and internet dating. The Coen’s have this way of writing the human condition in a real yet off-beat uncomfortable style. In Burn you also get a kind of sad commentary on people and the barriers they build around themselves, hence missing the bigger picture. It tells us that most folks live in their own little bubble, and in this small existence we become the most important person in that world. Burn After Reading is hilarious to say the least; it has moments that will put tears of laughter in your eyes. It also has shockingly brutal moments of violence (a Coen Brother's staple). The performances were good, although occasionally over the top (Brad Pitt), all-in-all I’d say Malkovich turned out the most electric and interesting performance. Clooney was Clooney, no more, no less, and McDormand gave a decent performance that left you cringingly annoyed at her character. Like Ladykillers I’d have to say that the small role given to JK Simmons as the Deputy Director of the CIA stole the show for me, he had me laughing my….well my you know what off. He had the best lines and delivered them perfectly. Burn After Reading is certainly classic Coen Brother's fare, so if you’re not easily annoyed, like dark comedy and don’t mind feeling ummm…uncomfortable in your movie seat then go see this flick. You won’t leave with anything you didn’t go into the theatre with already, and it may leave you scratching your head, but if you are a Coen Brothers fan you’re used to that already, and if not skip it, obviously you’re not worthy of such an original style of filmmaking.