Burn After Reading [Blu-ray]
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/19/2008 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: RAfter the dark brilliance of No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading may seem like a trifle, but few filmmakers elevate the trivial to art quite like Joel and Ethan Coen. Inspired by Stansfield Turner’s Burn Before Reading, the comically convoluted plot clicks into gear when the CIA gives analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) the boot. Little does Cox know his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton, riffing on her Michael Clayton character), is seeing married federal marshal Harry (George Clooney, Swinton’s Clayton co-star, playing off his Syriana role). To get back at the Agency, Cox works on his memoirs. Through a twist of fate, fitness club workers Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt in a pompadour that recalls Johnny Suede) find the disc and try to wrangle a “Samaratin tax” out of the surly alcoholic. An avid Internet dater, Linda plans to use the money for plastic surgery, oblivious that her manager, Ted (The Visitor’s Richard Jenkins), likes her just the way she is. Though it sounds like a Beltway remake of The Big Lebowski, the Coen entry it most closely resembles, this time the brothers concentrate their energies on the myriad insecurities endemic to the mid-life crisis–with the exception of Chad, who’s too dense to share such concerns, leading to the funniest performance of Pitt’s career. If Lebowski represented the Coen’s unique approach to film noir, Burn sees them putting their irresistibly absurdist stamp on paranoid thrillers from Enemy of the State to The Bourne Identity. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Burn After Reading (Click for larger image)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars MOVIE BURN AFTER READING…
MOVIE WAS OK, NOTHING GREAT ABOUT IT. ALMOST BORING. BRAD PITT MUST BE HURTING TO DO THIS FLICK. STUPID ENDING AND PLOT. WASTE OF MONEY.
4 Stars Good, not great
I was hoping for a little more, but it was an okay movie. Wish I had rented rather than owned. Seemed to build up better than it ended.
1 Stars Burn Before Watching
This has to be the worst movie I have ever sat through. My wife and two of our friends watched this, and when it was over, we just sat staring at each other, wondering how we would get back the 96 minutes of our life wasted on this. Funny, I like all the actors in this film, but it just didn’t work for me, and I wasn’t alone. If you must see it, wait until it’s on TV, don’t waste money on the Disc.
1 Stars A waste of time
Given the stars involved in this movie I had great expectations.
Unfortunately they were never realized.
The movie starts out where a CIA agent is being demoted, so he quits. That evening he and his wife are slated to go to a party and in the ensuing commotion of getting ready, when she finally lets him get a word in edgewise, he tells her of his day. He tries to sell this as great opportunity to write his memoirs. She feels he’s being irresponsible and complains to her lover. Her lover is a husband of a successful child book writer and beds all sorts of disenfranchised women. So when she leaves her ex CIA hubby, her lover realizes he is in a pinch.
In the mean time, a lowly health club worker is on her way to re invent herself, frustrated that her health insurance won’t pay for cosmetic surgery. She complains to her smitten former priest boss and daffy co worker about the injustice of it all. Then a CD with the former CIA agents financials is found in the health club where they work. They see this as an opportunity for extortion. Unfortunately when that person is as unhinged as this CIA agent is, it does not go well.
I could explain, how the rest of the story unfolded, as the trailers give you that much, but it would be as boring as the rest of this movie.
Each actor does well, their characters are well done, mind you very one dimensional. George Clooney as the paranoid rake. Frances McDormand as the single minded women intent on plastic surgery. John Malkovich as the disenfranchised CIA agent. Brad Pitt as the stupid jock. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. I’m boring myself writing this review.
I’m sure the story was intended as a zany dark comedy. However for me, it just never gets there. Some scenes are gruesome. Most are predictable.
You just wince at the stupidity of it all.
5 Stars Purchased Used
Received in very good condition, with quick dilevery. DVD played beautifully with no problems or destortion.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews