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Movie Review: Burn After Reading
- By Aubrey Ward III
- Published 09/26/2008
- General Interest or Multiple Genres
- Unrated
Aubrey Ward III
I'm not telling you what to see. I'm not telling you what not to see. I'm just sharing my experience and opinion on the movie, tv show or play that I have seen. I'm merely an advisor. Ultimately, you will have to go with your own gut and decide if you'll buy the ticket or not.
View all articles by Aubrey Ward III
Misplaced CIA secrets are just the tip of the iceberg in this bizarre and sometimes bleak comedy brought to you by Joel and Ethan Coen. John Malkovich stars as a recently unemployed CIA analyst named Osbourne Cox. He decides to use his newfound free time to begin work on his memoirs. His doting wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), decides she is going to protect herself financially, downloads personal files from his computer to a disc and drops them off at the lawyer's office so she can secure her assests along with some of her husband's.
The disc ends up in a fitness gym where an employee named Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) decides to use the disc to secure herself some funding for her plastic surgery. Linda, along with her good buddy Chad (Brad Pitt) begin to form a blackmail scheme against Mr. Cox. Meanwhile, Katie is having an affair with a man named Harry (George Clooney) but what Katie doesn’t know is that Harry gets around.
The plot is pretty easy to follow. What kept me glued to the screen was the loopiness of the situation. Pitt is a hyper jumping bean. Clooney is a loveable nut.
But Malkovich is probably the best insane person in this movie. There’s even an unexpected cameo by fitness guru, Gilad. I actually own one of his workout DVDs and it works. It’s even more effective if you exercise to it regularly.
Actually, the wacky yet realistic ambience of “Burn After Reading” reminded me of Christopher Guest helmed flicks such as “Waiting For Guffman”. But “Burn” has a bit more slapstick and a little extra outrageousness in the situations. One of the most hysterical and memorable scenes of the movie has to be the big unveiling of Harry’s basement contraption. The whole audience was universally astonished.
That’s pretty much all I would like to say about “Burn After Reading”. Anymore and I'll spill the entire plot right here. The nutshell review is that this is a quick witted comedy with an easy to follow plot and a wacky cast of kooky characters. A fine and funny ensemble piece with a bit of a dark edge. Oh and every character says the "F-Word" at least twice. Not that the F-Bomb is all that shocking these days but it is quite notable in this flick.
The disc ends up in a fitness gym where an employee named Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) decides to use the disc to secure herself some funding for her plastic surgery. Linda, along with her good buddy Chad (Brad Pitt) begin to form a blackmail scheme against Mr. Cox. Meanwhile, Katie is having an affair with a man named Harry (George Clooney) but what Katie doesn’t know is that Harry gets around.
The plot is pretty easy to follow. What kept me glued to the screen was the loopiness of the situation. Pitt is a hyper jumping bean. Clooney is a loveable nut.
Actually, the wacky yet realistic ambience of “Burn After Reading” reminded me of Christopher Guest helmed flicks such as “Waiting For Guffman”. But “Burn” has a bit more slapstick and a little extra outrageousness in the situations. One of the most hysterical and memorable scenes of the movie has to be the big unveiling of Harry’s basement contraption. The whole audience was universally astonished.
That’s pretty much all I would like to say about “Burn After Reading”. Anymore and I'll spill the entire plot right here. The nutshell review is that this is a quick witted comedy with an easy to follow plot and a wacky cast of kooky characters. A fine and funny ensemble piece with a bit of a dark edge. Oh and every character says the "F-Word" at least twice. Not that the F-Bomb is all that shocking these days but it is quite notable in this flick.