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Burn After Reading (2008)

Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Time Out rating

Average user rating

89 reviews

Synopsis

The Coens return to a lighter, glossier vein with this comedy drama about a missing CIA memoir. George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton star.

Movie review

From Time Out London

With their hangdog mugs now nestled against the bosom of mainstream Hollywood, indie-crossover darlings the Coen brothers have concocted another of their Hawkesian screwball quickies in which an ensemble of beautiful A-listers merrily play the fool. Already a hit in the US, ‘Burn After Reading’ is a snappy, confident, lightly satirical and stridently mischievous entertainment that arrives on the back of their sand-blasted lament for times past, ‘No Country for Old Men’.

But while the tenor may have changed, the madcap template is very much in place. The rub: a disc containing the memoirs of recently dismissed, mid-level CIA operative Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich at his high-falutin, foul-mouthed best) floats into the hands of two gormless gym employees-turned-recreational grifters, plastic surgery-obsessed singleton Linda (Frances McDormand) and soft liberal airhead Chad (Brad Pitt, right). After an inevitably calamitous attempt at bribery (‘We’ve got your secret shit!’), the pair find themselves cack-handedly doorstepping the Russian embassy in search of a swifter pay-off. Fold into that a parallel story where George Clooney’s rubber-faced philanderer, Harry, tries to juggle semi-serious flings with Linda and Osbourne’s flamed-haired ex, Katie (Tilda Swinton).

Considering the Coens’ past form with intricately plotted farces (‘Raising Arizona’, ‘Fargo’, ‘The Big Lebowski’), this does feel effortless to the point that you might imagine they could have scribbled it on the back of a napkin between breakfast and brunch. Yet, beneath its deadpan façade, nimble direction and robust photography (care of Emmanuel Lubezki) lies a cheerily nihilistic (misanthropic even?) work which paints its characters as preening, self-obsessed, idiot savants who wear stupid clothes, habitually lie, misuse the internet for dating and wouldn’t know a conscience from a Coke bottle. Even at their lowest ebb (2004’s ‘The Ladykillers’) the brothers’ palpable affection for old movies injected some humanity into the overly sardonic proceedings; but here, even the movies are bad, as seen in their snarkily anodyne film-within-a-film, ‘Coming Up Daisy’.

The audience are, in the end, placed in the boots of JK Simmons’s flummoxed CIA chief who, having been nervously informed of the preceding antics, finds it tough to fathom how these people could have been so damn stupid. It’s possibly the Coens’ least romantic film, which makes the cynical tone a tough pill to swallow, but chances are that you’ll be too busy hooting and chuckling idiotically to notice.

Author: David Jenkins 2008-10-14 11:38:51

Time Out London Issue 1991, Oct 16 – 22, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Arunaras said...

Posted on Nov 07 2008 16:27 Great fun watching this film. strongly disagree with negative reviews. if u have arty sense of humour, this is a real treat.

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Alice said...

Posted on Nov 06 2008 02:18 I've already seen Burn After Reading twice at the cinema and am considering seeing it again. This is clearly a film based more strongly on the characters than the plot, but this is easy to enjoy. The five main characters are well developed and compliment each other. Brad Pitt's finest performance, by far. And let's all remember; not every single film needs to make a big statement. Sometimes it just needs to be.
Hello, did anybody lose their secret CIA shit?
Over and out.

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Neill said...

Posted on Nov 05 2008 13:10 thoroughly enjoyed it. J Malkovitch did remind me of Victor Meldrew though!
I DON'T BELIEVE IT!

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Fred said...

Posted on Nov 04 2008 09:30 Great film. It didn't matter that the story of the film didn't really lead anywhere. This was as good as Fargo for me.

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Paula said...

Posted on Nov 02 2008 15:36 Somewhat disappointing. I felt the characters and story line were underdeveloped. Brad Pitt gave the best performance, in my opinion - somewhat different from his usual role. Clooney was far from his best in this and John Malkovitch did well with a thin plot. Maybe I was expecting too much, but this was just too lightweight for me.

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Tobi_fence said...

Posted on Oct 31 2008 11:37 personally i laughed plenty of times at this film but found it ultimately empty and contrived. The characters come of as cooky and interesting for the first 45 minutes or so but then they don't go anywhere. They learn nothing and fail to go anywhere. Because of this these caricatures feel hollow and unrealistic. arguably this is the point of the film, these characters represent some facet of human society and the greed which imprisons us all.. but ultimately who cares? The characters i found interesting and funny at the start of the film seem unbelievable and stupid by the end. Their actions seem driven by plot rather than by their own will or logic which left me constantly thinking "why did they (the coens) do that?" at best you could describe it as a funny film about the "human condition" but that would make it sound funnier and more intelligent an effort than it actually is. To put it bluntly i didnt care about anyone on screen 45 minutes in and that took away from the gags and just left me bored. (oh and statements like its fantastic and if you dislike it you "clearly didnt get it" are unhelpful and completely obnoxious).

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Chocoboy said...

Posted on Oct 31 2008 02:10 Saw the film last night with mixed feelings. I thought the three main actors did a great job and loved the "just make it go away" attitude of the CIA chief. The humour was clever but at times the strong cynicism mixed with humour felt like an uncomfortable fit.

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kizzy said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 22:56 the film was a bit of a disappointment, and i'm usually the first to like dark, obscure things. i understood it but didn't enjoy it, it was tedious and had no real point. i also think there was more swearing than necessary. i agree with the over acting comment because it wasn't at all realistic, the characters were just annoying. not the worst thing i've ever seen though.

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iain said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 22:06 What a bizzare film! dark comedy this certainly is. first 20 mins very slow. after that it picks up. brad pitt plays a highly amusing role as the gormless gym freak and john malcovich also puts in a good performance. worth going to see but definitely not for everyone.

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Dodgy Dick said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 16:24 £6.20 and not 1 serious laugh, me finks other peoples have too much money to waste

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DV said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 16:20 Well said, Mr Craig. It is indeed embarrassing when one realises that one is a bit fick..
Mainstream, it isn't. And please, BAR-haters, don't call people pretentious just because they understand something that you don't...
Go see it, people.

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craig said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 15:26 rather a 'not bad' coen brothers movie than most of the lamebrained offerings currently on circuit. beer-swilling audiences and hyperactive mtv followers usually have difficulty with movies that offer anything more than cgi and car chases, so i am not too surprised to find negative comments. anyway, the off-beat aspects of the film are glorious, the acting top notch, and of course it is always a joy to see people get bent out of shape on these forums when they realize they just didn't get it !!!

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zeddy said...

Posted on Oct 29 2008 23:44 BADD MAN FILM....BRAAAAAPPPP!!!! sexy cast 2...n im talkin clooney n pitt...HOTT DAYMM!!

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anglo said...

Posted on Oct 29 2008 23:38 JOHN is such a clever little boy .
his momma sure taught him how to be tolerant and convey himself with all the manners she had herself -says a LOT ABOUT COENS FOLLOWING

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uk said...

Posted on Oct 29 2008 18:06 people who call others idiots are baboons like the tiny brain of this movie itself -total crap and as boring as watching garbage burn

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