Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney
I absolutely love the Coen Brothers; even when they aren't at their best, they're usually a damn sight better than most other filmmakers in recent years.
Such is the case with Burn After Reading; it's not the Coens' most engaging work, but the film is a solid comedy that's elevated by dialogue with plenty of great moments ("You're a Mormon, to you everyone has a drinking problem"), and most importantly its cast of interesting characters.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
There are a handful of connected character arcs in the film, sparked by CIA Analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) quitting his job and deciding to start writing a memoir. His wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with Harry Pfarrer (Clooney), a married U.S. Marshall. Not content with just a wife and mistress, Harry dates just about every woman he finds attractive, including Linda (McDormand), a woman who works at Hardbodies gym, unsatisfied with her aging and looking to get plastic surgery, and spends time looking on dating sites for a man with her work mate Chad (Pitt, played hilariously here as a stupid, blonde, gum-chewing dudebro).
The plot is a series of actions, amusing and macabre, that all happen because of each other. It isn't the driving force of the film, but it still plays out tightly with each action begetting another action later in the film, similar to my of favourite of the Coens' work, O Brother, Where Art Thou? Harry mentions specifically early in the film that he's never fired his weapon, so of course he fires it later, that sort of thing. Chad finds a disc that he mistakenly believes contains sensitive information, connects it to Osbourne, and with the help of Linda seeks to find a way to make money off of it. Harry starts building a secret device in his basement for his wife over the guilt he feels in getting ready to serve her divorce papers. It's a series of absurd and linked events that mostly serve to allow the characters to talk, which is fine here because the dialogue is so funny, and the stars really shine.
Pitt as Chad is my personal favourite. He constantly talks like he knows what he's talking about, but if you consider for a moment anything he says, you recognise that he's a complete idiot, a literal man-child. That said, McDormand's Linda is also great playing opposite Chad, like a big sister; constantly having to deal with Chad's crap but also sharing a comical moment with him over her matches in online dating. Lastly, Malkovich gets a mention here as Osbourne, mean-spirited, hurling insults and yelling at anyone who gets in his way (He's the one who dropped the Mormon line I mentioned earlier).
The Verdict: Burn After Reading is a silly film with dark tones that relies much more on its characters than on its plot. The Coens present the film with excellent direction and the usual rhythm and style in their dialogue. All said, this is a good movie, if not particularly memorable, but also short and sweet; absolutely worth the watch if you're a fan of the Coens' work, but less universally appealing than works like No Country For Old Men.
Rating: 7/10
Published November 7th, 2016
Monday, 7 November 2016
Friday, 4 November 2016
Film 47: Johnny Dangerously (1984)
Directed by: Amy Heckerling
Written by: Harry Colomby, Jeff Harris, Bernie Kukoff, Norman Steinberg
Starring: Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner
Alright, I'm back. Uni has occupied most of my time over the last few months, but now that it's over, I figured it was time to get back to this.
I'd known about Johnny Dangerously for years before seeing it; as a long-time fan of Weird Al Yankovic, I've loved This is the Life ever since I first heard it, a song by Al I knew to be written for the opening credits of this movie. Unfortunately, the film never really gets better than the song.
Johnny Dangerously is a spoof comedy in a similar vein to Airplane! (1980) or Hot Shots! (1991), filled with quick sight gags and simple subversion of expectations, though never quite as funny as either of the other films. Instead of parodying airplane disaster movies or Top Gun (1986), however, Dangerously pokes fun at 1920s and 1930s gangster films.
We're introduced to Johnny Kelly (Keaton), a pet shop owner in 1935, who catches a young boy trying to steal a puppy. This leads Johnny to regale the boy with a tale of his own history with crime. This first scene does well to set the tone of the film, with plenty of light visual gags (a pet throwing his food bowl out of his cage) dialogue jokes (Johnny talking to his pets as if he were a waiter serving them food) and upbeat music. There's also a meta acknowledgement of the format as the characters recognise the wavy lines that appear over the screen to tell us that moving in to the past.
From here we follow Johnny as his mother's constant ailments cause him to go to the local Dundee gang for money, which sets him off on a life of crime in the gang. We're introduced to a colourful cast of gangsters, including Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo), a self-described "real scumbag" who carries an .88 Magnum ("it shoots through schools"); all of the gang members speak in a forced 1920's 'wise guy' gangster tone, seemingly for comedy's sake.
The cast is top notch, always enjoyable to watch even if not always hilarious. Keaton is always a treat for me to watch, but the real highlight is Piscopo, who manages to over-act in the best way, with exaggerated beady eyes and hilariously forced stiff movement. Piscopo is charismatic despite these aspects, really showing the difference between bad acting and a parody of bad acting.
The Verdict: Johnny Dangerously has strength in its cast more often than its comedy. While it tries to constantly offer quick and cheap laughs and maintain a generally humourous atmosphere with the use of put-on 'gangster accents', the film didn't make me laugh as consistently as other films made in a similar style. I never disliked the film, but I can't say I'd actively recommend it either. If you enjoy light spoof movies, there's no harm in seeing this, but it's even more esoteric than other films of its kind.
Rating: 5.5/10
Published November 4th, 2016
Written by: Harry Colomby, Jeff Harris, Bernie Kukoff, Norman Steinberg
Starring: Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner
Alright, I'm back. Uni has occupied most of my time over the last few months, but now that it's over, I figured it was time to get back to this.
I'd known about Johnny Dangerously for years before seeing it; as a long-time fan of Weird Al Yankovic, I've loved This is the Life ever since I first heard it, a song by Al I knew to be written for the opening credits of this movie. Unfortunately, the film never really gets better than the song.
Johnny Dangerously is a spoof comedy in a similar vein to Airplane! (1980) or Hot Shots! (1991), filled with quick sight gags and simple subversion of expectations, though never quite as funny as either of the other films. Instead of parodying airplane disaster movies or Top Gun (1986), however, Dangerously pokes fun at 1920s and 1930s gangster films.
We're introduced to Johnny Kelly (Keaton), a pet shop owner in 1935, who catches a young boy trying to steal a puppy. This leads Johnny to regale the boy with a tale of his own history with crime. This first scene does well to set the tone of the film, with plenty of light visual gags (a pet throwing his food bowl out of his cage) dialogue jokes (Johnny talking to his pets as if he were a waiter serving them food) and upbeat music. There's also a meta acknowledgement of the format as the characters recognise the wavy lines that appear over the screen to tell us that moving in to the past.
From here we follow Johnny as his mother's constant ailments cause him to go to the local Dundee gang for money, which sets him off on a life of crime in the gang. We're introduced to a colourful cast of gangsters, including Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo), a self-described "real scumbag" who carries an .88 Magnum ("it shoots through schools"); all of the gang members speak in a forced 1920's 'wise guy' gangster tone, seemingly for comedy's sake.
The cast is top notch, always enjoyable to watch even if not always hilarious. Keaton is always a treat for me to watch, but the real highlight is Piscopo, who manages to over-act in the best way, with exaggerated beady eyes and hilariously forced stiff movement. Piscopo is charismatic despite these aspects, really showing the difference between bad acting and a parody of bad acting.
The Verdict: Johnny Dangerously has strength in its cast more often than its comedy. While it tries to constantly offer quick and cheap laughs and maintain a generally humourous atmosphere with the use of put-on 'gangster accents', the film didn't make me laugh as consistently as other films made in a similar style. I never disliked the film, but I can't say I'd actively recommend it either. If you enjoy light spoof movies, there's no harm in seeing this, but it's even more esoteric than other films of its kind.
Rating: 5.5/10
Published November 4th, 2016
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