Robin Pottratz"Burn After Reading" contains laughs, but not enough ** out of 4
September 22nd 2008 16:46
With "No Country for Old Men," Joel and Ethan Coen hit what many believe was an artistic high. The academy certainly felt that way, awarding the Coen's film oscars for best adapted screenplay, best direction, and best picture. Despite these accolades, the Coen's would still like to maintain their aura of being "quirky." So then you have their "No Country" follow up, the dark espionage comedy "Burn After Reading."
The film certainly cements the Coen's reputation as being unconventional. The film is a lot of fun, until it eventually gets crushed under its own weight. The film begins with the termination of an analyst named Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) from the CIA. He then decides to write his memior, much to the chagrine of his wife (Tilda Swinton) who is having an affair with a walking mid-life crisis played by George Clooney. Meanwhile Linda Litzke (Frances Mcdormand), is a middle aged gym employee craving plastic surgery and completely oblivious to the crush that her gym manager (Richard Jenkins) has on her. Linda and her dim witted best friend Chad (Brad Pitt) then find a disk containing financial records of Osbourne Cox obtained by Mrs. Cox in preparation for a divorce. Linda and Chad decide to blackmail Osbourne, exchanging the disk for money to be used for Linda's plastic surgery.
Are we good so far? Good because I just described the first 45 minutes of "Burn After Reading," which are a hoot. However at about the midway point a major character gets killed, a subplot involving Russians is introduced, internet dating is used frequently, and there is a dildo chair...yes, a dildo chair. After the midway point "Burn After Reading" loses its way, there are simply too many ideas and the Coens are not able to rein them all in.
The acting performances are very hit or miss. Bradd Pitt is flat out hilarious as Chad, an uncool idiot with a bad dye job who is always on his i-pod stupidly dancing to a song that only he can hear. Tilda Swinton has dry bitchy contempt down to a T as Katie Cox, a doctor who is so mean that she threatens a child who doesn't open his mouth during an exam.
Frances McDormand is doing a lighter variation on the role she won an oscar for in "Fargo." It worked then, but it doesn't work now. George Clooney gives a desperately hammed up performanced as a married federal marshall who uses internet dating for random sex and spends his free time engaging in random fetishes (see dildo chair). Finally, Malkovich is wasted in a one note, F-bomb dropping performace that is kind of sad coming from such a talented performer.
"Burn After Reading" is very Coen brothers. It is just weird for the sake of being weird and there are many times in the film that it works. However there are more times where being weird just brings the film to a standstill. I do commend the Coens for maintaining their record of being unconventional, however it just doesn't click completely in "Burn After Reading." The film provides some big laughs, but you can't escape the feeling that you've just been burned.
The film certainly cements the Coen's reputation as being unconventional. The film is a lot of fun, until it eventually gets crushed under its own weight. The film begins with the termination of an analyst named Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) from the CIA. He then decides to write his memior, much to the chagrine of his wife (Tilda Swinton) who is having an affair with a walking mid-life crisis played by George Clooney. Meanwhile Linda Litzke (Frances Mcdormand), is a middle aged gym employee craving plastic surgery and completely oblivious to the crush that her gym manager (Richard Jenkins) has on her. Linda and her dim witted best friend Chad (Brad Pitt) then find a disk containing financial records of Osbourne Cox obtained by Mrs. Cox in preparation for a divorce. Linda and Chad decide to blackmail Osbourne, exchanging the disk for money to be used for Linda's plastic surgery.
Are we good so far? Good because I just described the first 45 minutes of "Burn After Reading," which are a hoot. However at about the midway point a major character gets killed, a subplot involving Russians is introduced, internet dating is used frequently, and there is a dildo chair...yes, a dildo chair. After the midway point "Burn After Reading" loses its way, there are simply too many ideas and the Coens are not able to rein them all in.
The acting performances are very hit or miss. Bradd Pitt is flat out hilarious as Chad, an uncool idiot with a bad dye job who is always on his i-pod stupidly dancing to a song that only he can hear. Tilda Swinton has dry bitchy contempt down to a T as Katie Cox, a doctor who is so mean that she threatens a child who doesn't open his mouth during an exam.
Frances McDormand is doing a lighter variation on the role she won an oscar for in "Fargo." It worked then, but it doesn't work now. George Clooney gives a desperately hammed up performanced as a married federal marshall who uses internet dating for random sex and spends his free time engaging in random fetishes (see dildo chair). Finally, Malkovich is wasted in a one note, F-bomb dropping performace that is kind of sad coming from such a talented performer.
"Burn After Reading" is very Coen brothers. It is just weird for the sake of being weird and there are many times in the film that it works. However there are more times where being weird just brings the film to a standstill. I do commend the Coens for maintaining their record of being unconventional, however it just doesn't click completely in "Burn After Reading." The film provides some big laughs, but you can't escape the feeling that you've just been burned.
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