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Burn After Reading
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Frances McDormand
Genre:
Comedy
Run Time: 96
min.
Release Date:
September 2008
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Looking much more comedic
by the previews movie-goers saw prior to its release, BURN AFTER
READING isn’t so much a laugh-out-loud film from beginning to end as
it is a sneak-up-on-you-and-catch-you-off-guard style film that speaks
to the intelligence of this film about ...well ...stupidity. Yes,
stupidity.
From government higher-ups to health club morons, Burn After Reading
shows us the ridiculous nature of those who want one thing, and those
who think they know what’s going on in the world but never really do.
Let me explain...
Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich,
THE LIBERTINE) is having a really
bad year. He’s just been relieved of his assignment desk at the CIA. His
wife is having an affair. He drinks too much. And now he may have lost
the memoirs he was working on.
Cut to a health club and we have Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand,
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY) looking for love on internet sites, but also
under the impression that she’s in desperate need of some serious
plastic surgery (tummy tuck, breast enlargement, you name it). Her
coworkers try to help by looking over her internet dating choices. One
of her coworkers, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt,
BABEL) is a bit nutty but
trying to be helpful. He also discovers that a CD found lying on the
floor of the ladies room has “secret shit” on it (could this be Osbourne
Cox’s memoirs?).
Cut to Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney,
MICHAEL CLAYTON), a Treasury
Department employee who’s overactive, extramarital sex life has him in
deeper trouble than he could’ve ever imagined. Sexing it up with Osbourne’s wife (played by Tilda Swinton,
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA),
Harry is somewhat of an internet sexual predator, not realizing that his
wife is on to him and having him tailed.
So...
Linda and Chad try and blackmail Osbourne with his lost memoirs so that
Linda can get some cash for her plastic surgery make-over. But Osbourne
isn’t having it. Chad is in for some rough times as he breaks into
Osbourne’s house, trying to find more “secret shit” to blackmail him
with.
Meanwhile, Osbourne’s wife has kicked him out of the house and is
prepared to move on with her life by hooking up with Harry (who’s not
looking to hook up with any one woman). Harry, in the meantime, is
hooking up with Linda and learning some distressing news about Chad.
Back at the CIA...
CIA heads are trying to find out why Linda and Chad have gone to the
Russian Embassy to sell Osbourne Cox’s memoirs (Osbourne had nothing to
do with the Russian sector of the CIA) and discovering that murder and
mayhem have broken out since they released Osbourne from his position.
Whew!
But the big question remains: Will Linda Litzke get her make-over?
Sound like a lot? It is. But in the hands of master directors Joel and
Ethan Coen (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) it is a wild and surprising ride.
The main thing I’d like to caution people with is that, again, this
isn’t a laugh-a-minute flick. It’s subtle, very subtle, in the
beginning. It builds on itself as the characters mesh and interact with
one another. The Coen brothers show that they have the ability to
surprise the audience with dramatic moments that overlap into comedic
bits of interesting magnitude. Punches, gunshots, and skull-bashings are
intermixed with lines of an absolute ridiculous nature, adding a unique
flavor to this unusual comedy.
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Image from Burn After
Reading
DVD cost: $29.00
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The Coen brothers said
they wrote the screenplay for this film while writing the screenplay for
No Country For Old Men (2007). They would usually alternate every other
day for each script.
Movie Quote: "Osbourne
Cox? I thought you might be worried...about the security...of your shit."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Burn After Reading
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