"Burn After Reading" is one quirky comedic ride with great acting from everyone involved.

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2008)

Coming off of the hype surrounding "No Country for Old Men", Joel and Ethan Coen go back to their roots with this hilarious, offbeat comedy. While this humor might not be for everyone, this film is a delight for the die-hard fans of the Coens. Both Joel and Ethan are brilliant directors, writers, and producers as they have proved with each and every film they have released. "Burn After Reading" is probably their quirkiest film to date and with the help of the stellar cast, it could go down as one of their best.
"Burn After Reading" tells the story of a CIA official Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) who gets fired from his job because he is rumored to have a drinking problem. The fun begins when the two gym employees Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt) find a disk that contains what is believed to be secret CIA information. It isn't long before Osborne discovers that he is being blackmailed by these two gym employees who will stop at nothing to get the reward money they feel there are entitled to. Hilarity, great acting, and "Fargo" style humor ensues
There have been plenty of films over the past few years that have had a cast as big as this one but most of them fail to live up to their true potential. Luckily, "Burn After Reading" uses the entire cast as successfully with all the actors and actresses involving giving hilarious, off the wall performances. I could probably go on all day talking about how George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, and all the rest of the cast shines thanks to the well written characters and witty dialogue.
Both Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the script for "Burn After Reading" and I have to admit the script is the core reason why this film worked as well as it did. When the film first starts you feel that the movie will be extremely complex with a lot of twists and turns but by the time it ends you just laugh because it's such a twisted, silly and overly simple plot. Only the Coen Brothers would be able to pull this off with such style and humor. Besides the plot, you have to applaud the witty and sarcastic dialogue. It's hard to really describe the screenplay as it's like low-brow humor for a high-brow crowd. It's oddly clever.
In the end, "Burn After Reading" is a laugh riot from start to finish. It's not your typical mainstream comic caper as most of the humor would be considered "off beat" by most. For fans of the Coen's earlier work like "Fargo" and "Raising Arizona" this film will not disappoint. The cast is superb, the screenplay is quirky and original, and the direction is as great as always. Most importantly, this is a fun film that proves Oscar winning actors don't always have to play a serious role to prove how talented they truly are. I applaud Joel and Ethan Coen for creating a truly unique and funny film that breaks through the mainstream stereotype of what is funny.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Burn After Reading" is a 8 out of 10.