Burn After Reading (2008)

Movie Info

I’m not paranoid…you’re paranoid

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is out of a job at the CIA and has decided to write his memoires.  When Cox’s cheating wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) decides to seek a divorce to be with paranoid, married Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), she makes a copy of Cox’s finances and unwittingly a copy of the memoires which falls into the hands of Hardbodies gym workers Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) who think the files could be their ticket to a big payday…there are eyes everywhere and everyone’s number could be up!

Written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, Burn After Reading is a comedy spy thriller.  Following No Country for Old Men in 2007, the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received mostly positive reviews.

I remember when Burn After Reading was released, the reviews weren’t bad, but they weren’t the stellar scores that No Country for Old Men scored…and critics wanted that again.  I skipped Burn After Reading as a result, but having finally seen it, I think it is a fun, light jaunt with classic Coen humor.

Just remember if you ever break into George Clooney’s place that even Brad Pitt’s smiling face cannot woo him…

The story is a puzzle, and like other Coen movies in the vein of Fargo, it is about people ruining their lives due to their vices.  None of this had to happen, but lust, greed, envy, pride, gluttony, and almost every sin ends up corrupting the group.  Unlike Fargo, one person walks away with what they want…and the bad behavior pays off (at the cost of multiple lives).  Does it equal out?  No…and that is the humor of the movie (that and the bigger fact that the government and spy agencies just don’t care).

The cast is great.  Frances McDormand has a little of her Fargo character in Linda, but it is largely a flipside to her because greed and pride have her willing to sell secrets to the Russians.  John Malkovich is rather typical Malkovich (the role was for him), and George Clooney plays a rather vapid male bimbo.  Tilda Swinton might not be in the best relationship, but she should know better than to trust Clooney’s character (and you never get a real idea what happened to her).  The real star has to be Brad Pitt who’s dim Chad was rather out of character at the time.  I also love David Rasche and J.K. Simmons and the CIA agents trying to make sense of everything that is happening.

I’ve been inside my own head…I’m not afraid to shoot anyone

The movie is slick and an odd spy “thriller” in that there are very little explosive events.  This ties into the fact it is an anti-spy spy movie that is almost mocking the idea of covert operations and secret spying technology…it is people that put too much stock in the CIA’s abilities and concerns.

Burn After Reading was a fun watch, but it wasn’t the deepest Coen Bros. movie I’ve ever seen.  I like that the Coen Bros. often alternate between more drama based filmed and more comedic films and this generally showcases their talent.  If you haven’t seen Burn After Reading, it is a fun ride that has some surprises built in.  The Coens followed Burn After Reading with A Serious Man in 2009.