Burn After Reading Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: September 21st, 2008

Just a year after their award-winning run with No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers go for laughs with Burn After Reading, a screwball comedy about nothing in particular with particularly funny characters.

It’s another cruel, dark comedy from the guys who stuffed a man in a wood chipper in Fargo or blew the ashy remains into a friend’s eyes in The Big Lebowski. While Burn isn’t as funny as either of those, it still provides plenty of laughs at a new “league of morons.”

The memoirs of a spiraling CIA agent fall into the hands of two gym employees who try to sell the disc. What ensues is a wacky mix-up of intertwining stories played by a circus of A-list actors with brilliant comic timing.

Brad Pitt’s “Hardbodies” trainer is hilarious and the best part of the comedy. Clearly the brawn of the blackmail outfit, his imbecilic plans are fumbled with such deliriousness that the audience was laughing from the moment his bleached flat-top haircut jogged in. He’s teamed with Linda (Francis McDormand), a plastic surgery obsessed gym staffer who worries that her meeting with Russian operatives may interfere with another Internet liaison.

Stuck on the other side of this mess is Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), a bitter ex-CIA analyst with a drinking problem and a short fuse. Fired from his government job, Cox decides to focus on his memoirs, a decision that doesn’t bring happiness to his scowling, wealthy wife (Tilda Swinton). She downloads all of his computer files for her divorce attorney, inadvertently stealing CIA secrets that are misplaced in the gym locker room.

Also thrown in the mix is a smarmy womanizer named Harry (George Clooney), a treasury department lackey who carries a gun for some reason. He bounces back and forth from Mrs. Cox to Linda whenever the loopy plot needs him to show up in another sticky situation.

Closely following this “cluster f*ck” are a few top CIA agents, who furrow their brows in confusion at how the shenanigans unfold. “Report to me when it makes sense!” the chief barks. But none of it is logical or necessary, a disposable romp from a whole mess of talent.

Burn After Reading isn’t the Coen brothers best film, or even best comedy, but it’s a funny diversion that is much better than most Hollywood “comedies” yucking it up in theaters.

3.5 out of 5.