Burn After Reading

Robert Hammerle

September 15, 2008 by Robert Hammerle

0 votes

"B" Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

At their best, as with "Raising Arizona" (1987), "Fargo" (1996) "The Big Lebowski" (1998), "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" (2000) and last year's Oscar Winning "No Country For Old Men," the Coen Brothers are artists operating at a level no other present day directors can match. In painting their twisted version of the American landscape, they are like Norman Rockwell on acid.

But unlike Rockwell's quaint view of American life, the Coen Brothers fill their movies with a lovable collection of misfits, idiots, psychopaths and embraceable losers from all walks of life. Their blend of humor and violence is fascinating to watch unfold on the screen.

And while "Burn After Reading" does not rank with their best work as referred to above, it is not far behind. More importantly, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich are truly spectacular, and their memorable performances are worth the price of admission regardless of your final opinion of this typically dysfunctional Coen Brother's film.

Malkovich plays Osborne Cox, a CIA Agent who quits rather than face demotion because of his excessive drinking. His life is falling apart around him, which includes the fact that his remorselessly unsympathetic wife, played with great flair by Tilda Swinton, is secretly having an affair with George Clooney, a serial philanderer who works for the United States Marshall's Office.

After Malkovich decides to write his memoirs, Swinton secretly downloads the contents of his computer to use in future divorce proceedings. For reasons that are better left unexplained, the disc falls into the hands of two of the most memorable goof balls to have appeared on the big screen since we last saw Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou."

Frances McDormand plays Linda Litzke, assistant manager of Hardbodies Gym. Desperately wanting to finance multiple plastic surgeries so that, in her own words, she "can meet a higher class of men on the internet," she decides to join forces with a Hardbodies personal trainer (Pitt) to blackmail the aforesaid Mr. Cox.

The mayhem that ensues is at times extraordinarily funny, and is always entertaining. But it is Mr. Pitt who stands out as the Gatorade swilling, airhead trainer who gets in way over his head. Along with Tom Cruise's memorable role in this year's "Tropic Thunder," Pitt's performance is living proof that some of the juiciest roles for today's mega stars are found as supporting actors, not as leading men.

And Clooney returns to what he does best, namely making fun of his own image. Here, he is an aging philanderer having affairs with Ms. Swinton and Ms. McDormand, never fully realizing how his perfidy would be his undoing. Much like his classic performance as Everett in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou," he is an aging lothario whose good looks disguise his bumbling ineptitude.

But with all due deference to the wonderful Pitt, Malkovich, McDormand and Clooney, some of the most understated moments of this film belong to veteran character actors Richard Jenkins and J.K. Simmons. Mr. Jenkins, who should receive an Oscar nomination for his stunning performance in this year's "The Visitor," plays the manager of Hardbodies whose tender longing for Ms. McDormand flies right over her head.

Mr. Simmons, who most of you will remember from his tender performance as the father of Ellen Page in last year's "Juno," plays a confused CIA Supervisor who is trying to get a handle on the inexplicable carnage going on around him. As he tells David Rasche, a delightfully deadpanned CIA Officer, "Come back and report to me when all of this makes sense."

But the point of this bizarrely fascinating little morsel from the dark recesses of the Coen Brother's brain is that "nonsense" never does "make sense." That is, after all, why they call it "nonsense."

Forum: Movies

Tags: 

Ethan & Joel Coen, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, J.K. Simmons, Comedy/Drama

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1 comment

Hammervision
Hammervision, September 19
0 votes

Saw this one last night and loved it. Took about a half hour to get rolling, but once Pitt showed up, it took off from there. The last scene between David Rasche and J.K. Simmons was the cherry on top of a very sweet Coen Bros. sundae. Funniest flick of theirs since Lebowski. Highly recommended.

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