Film 48: Burn After Reading (2008)

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