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Burn After Reading
Hot on the heels of their Oscar-winning No Country For Old Men, the illustrious Coen brothers head back into the black comedy/caper territory.
Ozzie Cox (John Malkovich) is a former CIA agent whose ex-wife (Tilda Swinton) steals a disc containing his volatile memoirs and accidentally leaves it at the gym where it is found by two trainers (a knuckleheaded Brad Pitt and Coen regular Frances McDormand) who believe they can use the info to blackmail Cox. George Clooney plays a needy ex-U.S. Marshall who gets tangled up in the mess - he's dating both Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton.
This is the first Coen Brothers film not photographed by Roger Deakins since Barton Fink (1991). Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men, The New World) takes over.
2008Rating: R16, Violence, Offensive Language & Sex Scenes97 minsUSA
ComedyCrimeThriller
- Director:
- Joel Coen ('No Country For Old Men', 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', 'Fargo', 'The Big Lebowski', 'Barton Fink')Ethan Coen
- Writer:
- Joel CoenEthan Coen
- Cast:
- Brad PittFrances McDormandGeorge ClooneyTilda SwintonJohn MalkovichJ.K. Simmons
Burn After Reading / Reviews
The New York Times
The clubby, predictably self-amused comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen, has a tricky plot, visual style, er, to burn, but little heart.
Full review
Chicago Reader
For dark laughs and hurtling narrative momentum this spy caper is their best work since Fargo.
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Sydney Morning Herald
The whole thing is a triumphant exercise in the art of silliness for its own sake.
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Variety
Nothing about the project's execution inspires the feeling that this was ever intended as anything more than a lark, which would be fine if it were a good one. As it is, audience teeth-grinding sets in early and never lets up.
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Rolling Stone
It would be no country for movie lovers without the Coens. They still manage to run unmuzzled while the rest of Hollywood runs scared.
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Roger Ebert
The characters are zany, the plot coils upon itself with dizzy zeal, and the roles seem like a perfect fit for the actors -- yes, even Brad Pitt, as Chad, a gum-chewing, fuzzy-headed physical fitness instructor. I've always thought of him as a fine actor, but here he reveals a dimension that, shall I say, we haven't seen before.
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New Zealand Herald
Black comedy's farce elements are overwhelmed by the absence of a single likeable character.
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Los Angeles Times
Because it's a Coen brothers film before it's anything else, this is about as dark and nihilistic as comedies are allowed to get before the laughter dies bitterly on your lips.
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Hollywood Reporter
Joel and Ethan Coen clearly are in a prankish mood, knocking out a minor piece of silliness with all the trappings of an A-list studio movie.
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Empire Magazine
If "No Country For Old Men" was vintage port, Burn After Reading is a shot of tequila: eye watering and hard to swallow, but the after-effect is terrific.
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