Coen brother dramas are my thing. Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing and No Country for Old Men are fantastic films. However, Coen brother comedies have always seemed to fall flat or never capture my interest. I have seen Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers and neither one of them really hit home. Raising Arizona never interested me and I have yet to watch it. And as blasphemous as it may be, I am not a big fan of The Big Lebowski. However, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Fargo are two of my favorite comedies of all-time so go figure. So where exactly would Burn After Reading fall in the line of Coen comedies?
If you are a Coen fan and can still respect my opinion of this film following the Lebowski mention I thank you. As to the question where Burn After Reading falls, it definitely doesn’t make the cut into the top tier, but it is certainly better than Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers. The main appeal for me was Brad Pitt and the decision to cast him as the “out-there” gym employee Chad Feldheimer was a perfect decision. Everything he did reminded me of his Oscar nominated performance in 12 Monkeys and at times exceeded it. Unfortunately for the film on a whole, it doesn’t really do enough or energize the audience in a way that you ever really get beyond a feeling of satisfaction without much exception.
There were a few moments afterward when I would replay some of Pitt’s reactionary moments in my mind and the revelation of George Clooney’s invention combined with Frances McDormand’s reaction were priceless, but I still didn’t have any real laugh-out-loud moment. Everyone performs their part to the best of their ability, but the film is more about the idea of what is going on rather than the actual actions themselves, which leaves it wanting.
Upon finding a disc of secret CIA documents Chad (Pitt) and Linda (McDormand), two gym employees, proceed to black mail Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), the ex-CIA agent the information on the disc belongs to. Chad wants money and Linda wants cosmetic surgery. Meanwhile Harry (Clooney) a married federal marshal is having an affair with Cox’s wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) and ultimately gets mixed up in the whole affair after getting involved in a sexual relationship with Linda.
It’s a twisted narrative and the main jokes involve Chad’s aloofness and Linda’s desire for cosmetic surgery. The idea a woman with low self-esteem is led by an idiot in an attempt to black mail an ex-CIA agent for money is quite funny, but it is also rather one note. It leads to constant chuckles throughout the entire film due to the bizarre antics of many of the characters and the idea of the whole thing, but it never really leaps over the edge to all out hilarity.
As always is the case with the Coens, the writing is tight and the film bookends itself extremely well. It is well cast and properly timed out at just over 90 minutes. Unfortunately this is just a satisfactory flick that will mildly entertain. I leave it open to the possibility that repeat viewings may actually make it a better film, and I plan on watching it again for sure, but for now I am left lukewarm on the whole experience, but a lukewarm Coen brother film is better than 90% of the trash that’s out there so we can be thankful for that.
B-
