Directed by: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen.
Written by: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen.
Starring: George Clooney (Harry Pfarrer), Frances McDormand (Linda Litzke), Brad Pitt (Chad Feldheimer), John Malkovich (Osborne Cox), Tilda Swinton (Katie Cox), Richard Jenkins (Ted), Elizabeth Marvel (Sandy Pfarrer), David Rasche (CIA Officer), J.K. Simmons (CIA Superior), Olek Krupa (Krapotkin).
Burn
After Reading is the red headed step child of late Coen brothers movies – the
one no one talks about very much. Debuting a year after No Country for Old Men
– and a year before A Serious Man – two of the brothers very best films, Burn
After Reading felt to many to be little more than a lark for the brothers – a
fun way to recharge their batteries after something as heavy as No Country. The
presence of movie stars like George Clooney and Brad Pitt assured that the film
was a sizable hit for the brothers – but the film came and went getting mostly
good, but not great, reviews, and then was pretty much forgotten. While I will
admit that Burn After Reading is obviously a “minor” Coen film – that doesn’t
mean it isn’t wonderful in its own way. It is the funniest film they’ve made
since O Brother, Where Art Thou for one thing – filled with great comedic
performances, no one more so than Pitt, who is gloriously stupid in the film.
While No Country for Old Men is what I would call a timeless film – a film that
will remain relevant for a long time, and really could have been set at any
time after WWII right up to the present day, Burn After Reading is much more a
product of the time and place it was made. In many ways, it is even somewhat ahead
of its time – if only by a few years. If Burn After Reading were released in
2013 for example, you could have easily have lumped it in with films such as
Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain and Sofia
Coppola’s The Bling Ring – three very different films, but all of which
concentrate basically on rather dumb characters who all feel entitled to their
share of the American Dream – but don’t feel they need to work for it – they
just want to reap the awards. Bay’s film in particular feels like a pumped up
version of Burn After Reading in many respects – something I noted at the time.
Watching the film again, I enjoyed it just as much as the first few times I
watched it back in 2008.
The
film opens with CIA operative Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) being informed that
he is being moved to a less sensitive area – he’s a drunk and they don’t want
him handling classified information. He’s furious, and quits on the spot – much
to the dismay of his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), a doctor who laughs at Osborne
when he tells her he wants to write his memoirs (which Malkovich pronounces in
only a way he could). Katie pretty much already hates Osborne – she’s been
sleeping with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) – a U.S. Marshall for a while, and
him quitting makes her finally decide to get a divorce. Harry, is also married
(and building a complex marital aid in his basement for his wife), but in
addition to sleeping with Katie, he also goes online to pick up random women
for sex.
Two
idiot gym employees – Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), who wants a host of
plastic surgery because she’s “gotten as far as this body” will take her, and
is furious with her HMO for denying her claim and Chad (Brad Pitt), who likes
to bike everywhere, and dance around like an idiot – find a disk in the gym’s
locker room. On that disk they find Cox’s memoirs – and a host of what Chad
assumes is some “super-secret shit” – and decide that this is their ticket to
financial freedom. If Osborne Cox wants his shit back, he’s going to pay for
it.
What
happens from there, I won’t spoil, as the film twists and turns – and becomes
surprisingly violent, in a comedic way, as the bodies start to pile up. The two
best scenes in the movie may well be between David Rasche and J.K. Simmons, as
two C.I.A. agents who cannot figure out what the hell is going on, who all the
players are, or if they should do anything about it or not – so it’s probably
better just to sweep the whole thing under the rug (“I’m fucked if I know what
we did”).
Burn
After Reading is about a culture of idiots – where CIA agents are really no
smarter than idiot gym employees, everyone feels entitled to something they
cannot have, and no one takes responsibility for anything. In short, it’s about
the culture the Coens see around every day, as the CIA gets involved in one
conflict after another, but cannot figure out what the hell they’re doing – and
the American people are too stupid to figure it out either. It is a deeply cynical
film about modern American culture, wrapped up in a screwball comedy package.
It’s a wonderful package at that – Clooney is normally an actor who radiates
intelligence – but here, he’s at his most gloriously stupid and dense. Pitt
makes a fool out of himself for our enjoyment – and damn it, if he shouldn’t
have gotten an Oscar nomination for his troubles. McDormand has never been out
and out funnier than she is here as an insecure woman, willing to do anything
to get what she wants. Malkovich has great fun screaming for his entire
performance. And Tilda Swinton looks at everyone with withering contempt. It’s
a great ensemble cast – as all Coen movies have.
To a
certain extent, the critics who complained that Burn After Reading was little
more than the Coens goofing off are correct. This isn’t them at their best –
their most incisive. But it is them at their funniest. If this is them just
goofing off, it’s still better than most filmmakers at their best.
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