Burn After Reading

There has been a lot of hyperbole being thrown around about the Coen's new movie Burn After Reading. Let me get this out of the way: this movie is not The Big Lebowski. It is not as funny as The Big Lebowski and you will not, as some reviews have stated, be quoting this movie for the next decade. Burn After Reading is a good, solid Coen film; which means that it is a lot better than most of the crap that passes as a movie these days. It definitely puts the missteps of Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty far behind them. 

Burn After Reading is a spy thriller of sorts, but instead of a film populated with smart and sophisticated double agents, it is populated with complete morons. Starting out as a series of unrelated events we are introduced to a group of characters whose lives become intertwined after a CD ROM of ex CIA Agent, Osbourn Cox (John Malcovitch) memoirs are found in a Hardbody's Gym locker room. The disc is mistaken by trainer Chad (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Francis Mcdormand) as highly confidential "shit". The two trainers try to blackmail Cox very poorly, often with ridiculous results. Meanwhile George Clooney's character, Harry Pfrarrer is a narcissistic, sex addicted, paranoid Treasury Department Agent who ends up sleeping with several of the characters in the movie through an internet dating services. Rounding out the cast is Tilda Swinten as Osbourn Cox's cold hearted, bitch of a wife. These are our main players, who through pure stupidity, lying and philandering end up being involved in a series of events that proves tragic for almost all involved. 

The less said about the specifics of the plot the better. I had some of the movies best moments spoiled for me in advance, and this is one of the few movies where I wish that it hadn't been spoiled.

Everyone in the cast is outstanding in their roles,  but the real standouts here for me were Brad Pitt as the clueless trainer Chad, Francis McDormand whose perpetual happiness actually shows a layer of desperate sadness underneath and JK Simmons as the head of some unspecified division at the CIA. Simmon's character gets pulled into the fray because Jon Malcovich's, Osbourn Cox is ex CIA and JK Simmons is left bewildered at the events that transpire and ends up cleaning up the mess when all is said and done. I felt Simmon's actually got the biggest laughs in the movie and he steals every scene he is in. But, before we get any further, we have to talk about Brad Pitt as the hilarious Chad. Chad's crappy hair and outfit alone was enough to make me laugh out loud several times. Pitt is truly hilarious in this role. He really is Chad and all that matters to Chad is working out, rocking out to his ipod, chewing gum all the time, his co worker Linda Litzke and his bike. He has no idea what he is doing and is pretty much along for the ride and will do whatever Linda asks him to do. That being said, he is so stupid, that he is completely without malice and what happens to his character in the end pretty much made the film for me. Which leads me to the ending of the movie...

WHAT A FUCKING ENDING!!! I wont spoil it, but be prepared for some extreme scenes of violence in the last 20 minutes. I would say the violence is is on par with Fargo or No Country For Old Men in terms of graphic depictions of violence. Really, the ending of the movie is what saved the film for me. The rest of the film wasn't bad by any means, and it is better than most other Hollywood fare, but this is the Coens and I expected a little more from them.  The ending for me ties the entire film together and is both shocking and hilarious at the same time. The fact that I really loved the ending so much may say more about me and my demented personality, because many of the negative reviews I read beforehand seemed to focus on the abrupt ending and the violence as being negative aspects of the film, but I couldn't disagree more. Just be prepared for the violence, because it is truly shocking and I could hear half the theatre gasp out loud, while I on the other hand was laughing. 

For any fan of the Coen Bros, this is a must see film. Everyone in the cast is spot on, and the trademark Coen humor and wit is on full display. Their social commentary is on full display and skewers everything from America's obsession with beauty, to divorce and even addresses the ineptness of our government agencies. Burn After Reading is nowhere near as funny as Lebowski or Raising Arizona, and it is not as dark as No Country or Fargo; I would say that if you crossed Lebowski with No Country For Old Men, then you would have a good idea of what you are in for with Burn After Reading. Another solid effort from Coens.