Burn After Reading

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDomand, John Malcovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt

In the words of one of the CIA agents following the story (and I paraphrase), "call me when it makes sense." Such is the situation we find ourselves in for the entirety of Burn After Reading a tragic comedy that's comically tragic. The story is as strange as you would expect from a Coen Brothers' movie, but that problem is that it has no meaning. At no point during the film do you wonder the impact of any of the actions. It seems to be simply a fly-on-the-wall view of five very strange people.

The closest to a central character is Osbourne Cox (Malcovich) who is fired from his position in the CIA in the opening sequence. This firing sets off a chain reaction of events as we learn his wife (Swinton) is cheating on him with a friend Harry Pfarrer (Clooney) and plans on divorcing him. After going to a law firm and leaving a copy of all financial records in their hands, the lawyer's secretary leaves it at the gym where Chad Feldheimer (Pitt) and Linda Litzke (McDormand) discover it, mistaking it for top secret government information. Naturally, the only thing to do with it is attempt to bribe Osbourne so that Litzke can get money for her plastic surgery and impress the men she meets online, one of them being Pfarrer.

No one character knows the whole of the story surrounding this precarious situation which, from the opening's ominous music, you know will end unhappily for at least one person.

The movie is at times laugh out loud funny and other times not sure whether to laugh or not funny. You get the sense that these people are simply playing a role. It is simply unbelievable that all could be happening in real life. And while it is a movie (and thus did not happen in real life) you are very aware the whole time that it is a movie.

It is certainly not the best Coen Brothers film but it is not without its merits. Clooney's character gets progressively more demented and he plays the part perfectly with expert enunciation and body movement. And the sections that are funny are worth the wait.

I would not categorize this as a bad movie but rather as a mediocre one. I neither recommend it nor shy anyone away from it. It's a fun watch but not a necessity.

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