Burn After Reading

Posted on: 17th October 2008  |

Director: Ethan and Joel Coen
Starring: Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, JohnMalkovich, Tilda Swinton
UK Release date: 17 October 2008
Certificate: 15 (97 mins)

Following last year's Oscar-laden cat-and-mouse thriller No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers return to more familiar light-hearted territory. Burn After Reading is a screwball comedy in which its wonderfully convoluted plot is the biggest joke of all. To explain the plot is to spoil some of its fun but it all has something to do with a recently fired alcoholic CIA analyst called Osborne Cox; Katie, his uptight lawyer wife who wants a divorce; an aging, body-conscious gym trainer called Linda Litzke whose greatest desire is cosmetic surgery; her relentlessly upbeat boyish colleague Chad; and Harry Pfarrer, a happily married philanderer with an appreciation for quality flooring.

You could also say Burn After Reading is a spy film. Joel Coen has said that “this is our version of a Tony Scott/Jason Bourne kind of movie - without the explosions.” And although there are secrets, lies, espionage, double dealing, CIA analysts, government agents, and foreign embassies, there are also yuppie gyms, internet dating and children’s book readings. Just like the kidnapping in The Big Lebowski took place around a bowling tournament and the prison break in O Brother Where Art Thou is interrupted to record and perform a bluegrass hit single, Burn After Reading has far too many quirky characters with bizarre ideas to stick to any one genre. And at this point, I should warn you that Burn After Reading is also responsible for the scariest basement scene since The Blair Witch Project.

Where the Coen brothers have always excelled is in their characters. They are nearly always defined by their foolishness yet also celebrated for it. The audience not only love these idiots but even empathize with them. Here, surgery-obsessed Linda cuts a sad figure. An airhead, to be sure, but innocent also. It's the Coens’ skill that amidst these absurd antics there exists an engaging amount of pathos. And because those characters and their motivations are so easily understood, we have no trouble grasping the intricate machinations of the story.

At the end, two peripheral characters try to make sense of it all, to understand what lessons, if any, there are in these events. Still confused, they conclude that it was all kind of pointless. But Burn After Reading is loaded with meaning. Clearly, it's a product of George W. Bush's America, its world one of misplaced suspicion and staggering incompetence.  Another reading Burn After Reading lends itself to, is the corrupt reality of the American Dream, where the pursuit of happiness is mistaken for the right to instant gratification. The only answer Linda can imagine to her loveless life is surgery. Harry indulges every lusty twinge. Osborne's self-regarding arrogance motivates him to write his "memoirs" (which he pronounces with a pretentious French accent) despite the fact he was a low-level analyst with no real insight into the CIA. And his wife Karen reacts to his drinking and sacking as an excuse to escape the marriage. And as each character perseveres with their unthinking selfishness, their superficial antics bring lots of laughs but not happiness.

It's difficult to sum up Burn After Reading. No Country for Old Men was a weighty film and a definite evolution for the Coens. Consequently, we now have heightened expectations of them yet this is a return to old techniques. To paraphrase one critic, if this were made by a new filmmaker our socks would be rolling up and down. And in itself, Burn After Reading is hard to evaluate. Its dense plot is filled with jokes and subtle classic film homages, not to mention its ensemble cast of top class stars, and it clocks in at a tight 97 minutes. It rushes by so fast that it’s hard to see what works and what doesn’t. Second viewings might be needed to completely understand it, but the first viewing is enough to really enjoy it. Unequivocally, Burn After Reading is very funny, captivating and intensely likeable.



Peter Quinn



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Burn After Reading Trailer (HD)

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