‘Burn After Reading’ is for the intelligent in a dim-witted cinema tapestry
MOVIE BLOG TIME
By Matthew Reichl
Times Editor
The Coen brothers’ newest movie, “Burn After Reading,” is a clever movie about dim-witted people.
Indeed, the filmmakers behind last year’s “No Country For Old Men” have stepped back into their comedic side, reminiscing “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Raising Arizona.”
“Burn After Reading” feels like a balanced blend between “The Big Lebowski” and “Intolerable Cruelty.”
My only question is whether or not Ethan and Joel Coen wanted to riff off of characters made for spy genre films or they wanted people watching the movie to not feel lost keeping up with all the different twists engaged in a spy movie.
The trouble starts when John Malkovich’s character Osborne Cox gets demoted within the CIA. Instead of taking the demotion, he quits in a rush and begins writing his memoirs.
Somewhere else in the Washington D.C. area, Frances McDormand’s Linda Litzke and Brad Pitt’s Chad Feldheimer work at the world’s most shallow fitness gym, Hardbodies.
There, the two find “top secret documents” on a CD with Cox’s memoirs and finance records. They decide to blackmail Cox for the government documents.
Linda plans to use the money to pay for extensive cosmetic surgery so she can attract the right kind of guy, one that she busily searches in vain for on dating Web sites.
McDormand plays the character as a woman on a mission, someone who has never been wrong a day in her life.
Pitt’s Chad, truly one of the scene stealers in the movie, belongs in any gym. He pumps his fists while exercising, bikes everywhere and his two-tone hair needs another dye job or a trim. His vacuous smile covers his face for almost every scene he’s in, and he is Linda’s friend due to his “can-do attitude.”
All the while, Cox’s ice princess of a wife, played by the porcelain Tilda Swinton is cheating on him with George Clooney’s Harry Pfarrer, a Treasury agent who has not fired his gun in his 20 years of service.
Pfarrer is a shady character building something in his basement who trolls Internet dating sites for women he can sleep while wife is on a book tour promoting her children’s books.
Clooney provides the charm that would otherwise be leading man material, however, his Pfarrer is nothing more than a shark.
Following the first act of the characters taking steps that ultimately lead them to the chaotic mess that is the third and final act, none are left unaffected by repercussions.
Characters are murdered over mistaken identity, none get what they aim for by the story’s end and are left unfulfilled like they started.
With an ensemble cast as strong as this, its very fortunate (and great work for the Coens) that the characters were written specifically with the actors and actresses in mind.
Playing off less than obvious strengths, Pitt, Clooney and McDormand excel at channeling amazingly flawed people with their own goals and challenges.
Going back to levels of intelligence in the film and viewer. Like Malkovich/Cox’s description of his blackmailers and bystanders as a “legion of morons,” almost every character in this film is being misled, misleading other characters, completely in the dark about the whole situation or is trying to figure out the situation.
Malkovich is especially engaging as a quiet analyst who slowly loses everything and melts down cursing expletives and brandishing liquor glasses.
Particularly hilarious scenes include his kiss off of the CIA office that is demoting him and the late night phone call Chad and Linda make waking Cox up to tell him he is being blackmailed.
However, this is not a slapstick comedy. The humor comes from subtlety or interaction between the cast. The film demands more of the viewer to appreciate the comedic elements and story. Much like “Fargo,” the comedy is dark and subtle. The only difference is the heart of this story is a comedy.
If you are looking for another “Ocean’s” movie with Clooney as the dashing con man or a political thriller with McDormand as the innocent that becomes involved in risky business, this is not either kind of film.
This movie specifically works to deconstruct stereotypes that the normal box office would make millions off of.
Clooney? Almost completely unredeemable. Pitt? Completely void of intelligent thought. McDormand? Entirely shallow.
However, if you are a Coens vet, or are looking for something different in a “thriller” then perhaps this is the film that best delivers in 2008.
By Matthew Reichl
Times Editor
The Coen brothers’ newest movie, “Burn After Reading,” is a clever movie about dim-witted people.
Indeed, the filmmakers behind last year’s “No Country For Old Men” have stepped back into their comedic side, reminiscing “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Raising Arizona.”
“Burn After Reading” feels like a balanced blend between “The Big Lebowski” and “Intolerable Cruelty.”
My only question is whether or not Ethan and Joel Coen wanted to riff off of characters made for spy genre films or they wanted people watching the movie to not feel lost keeping up with all the different twists engaged in a spy movie.
The trouble starts when John Malkovich’s character Osborne Cox gets demoted within the CIA. Instead of taking the demotion, he quits in a rush and begins writing his memoirs.
Somewhere else in the Washington D.C. area, Frances McDormand’s Linda Litzke and Brad Pitt’s Chad Feldheimer work at the world’s most shallow fitness gym, Hardbodies.
There, the two find “top secret documents” on a CD with Cox’s memoirs and finance records. They decide to blackmail Cox for the government documents.
Linda plans to use the money to pay for extensive cosmetic surgery so she can attract the right kind of guy, one that she busily searches in vain for on dating Web sites.
McDormand plays the character as a woman on a mission, someone who has never been wrong a day in her life.
Pitt’s Chad, truly one of the scene stealers in the movie, belongs in any gym. He pumps his fists while exercising, bikes everywhere and his two-tone hair needs another dye job or a trim. His vacuous smile covers his face for almost every scene he’s in, and he is Linda’s friend due to his “can-do attitude.”
All the while, Cox’s ice princess of a wife, played by the porcelain Tilda Swinton is cheating on him with George Clooney’s Harry Pfarrer, a Treasury agent who has not fired his gun in his 20 years of service.
Pfarrer is a shady character building something in his basement who trolls Internet dating sites for women he can sleep while wife is on a book tour promoting her children’s books.
Clooney provides the charm that would otherwise be leading man material, however, his Pfarrer is nothing more than a shark.
Following the first act of the characters taking steps that ultimately lead them to the chaotic mess that is the third and final act, none are left unaffected by repercussions.
Characters are murdered over mistaken identity, none get what they aim for by the story’s end and are left unfulfilled like they started.
With an ensemble cast as strong as this, its very fortunate (and great work for the Coens) that the characters were written specifically with the actors and actresses in mind.
Playing off less than obvious strengths, Pitt, Clooney and McDormand excel at channeling amazingly flawed people with their own goals and challenges.
Going back to levels of intelligence in the film and viewer. Like Malkovich/Cox’s description of his blackmailers and bystanders as a “legion of morons,” almost every character in this film is being misled, misleading other characters, completely in the dark about the whole situation or is trying to figure out the situation.
Malkovich is especially engaging as a quiet analyst who slowly loses everything and melts down cursing expletives and brandishing liquor glasses.
Particularly hilarious scenes include his kiss off of the CIA office that is demoting him and the late night phone call Chad and Linda make waking Cox up to tell him he is being blackmailed.
However, this is not a slapstick comedy. The humor comes from subtlety or interaction between the cast. The film demands more of the viewer to appreciate the comedic elements and story. Much like “Fargo,” the comedy is dark and subtle. The only difference is the heart of this story is a comedy.
If you are looking for another “Ocean’s” movie with Clooney as the dashing con man or a political thriller with McDormand as the innocent that becomes involved in risky business, this is not either kind of film.
This movie specifically works to deconstruct stereotypes that the normal box office would make millions off of.
Clooney? Almost completely unredeemable. Pitt? Completely void of intelligent thought. McDormand? Entirely shallow.
However, if you are a Coens vet, or are looking for something different in a “thriller” then perhaps this is the film that best delivers in 2008.
posted by Boyertown Times Editor at
12:59 PM
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