Clumsy And Mean Spirited

Rating: 4/10 (15 September 2008)

Just when the Coen brothers start getting some respect from me (No Country for Old Men) they put out something like Burn After Reading that makes me start to dislike them again. Smug, Smart Ass and Condescending the movie seems to be a joke on the audience (how dare you take us seriously!) If this is satire, its pretty heavy handed. As a comedy it comes up short as well. There are some sporadic laughs but they aren't really worth the investment. The plot in a nutshell: 2 brain challenged Health Club workers (McDormand and Pitt) come across a computer disk left by an nut case ex-CIA agent (Malkovich) When the ex-agent (who's just been fired) doesn't want to give them a reward, (it's his memoirs) they decide to see if the Russian embassy might want to buy it. Malkovich is married to Tilda Swinton who is having an affair with George Clooney who is also boinking McDormand on the side. It all sounds complicated, but it isn't very involving or funny. The movie takes a long time to get going, then it doesn't really go anywhere. One scene where someone is dispatched is so clumsily shot and edited you aren't sure what happened. Another likable character in the film is killed off and we are supposed to laugh at the gruesome details. The actors are mostly wasted though Pitt, McDormand and Malkovich do wring some laughs out of it. THe 2 actors who play he CIA agents come off best. All in all, a major disappointment. For die hard Coen fans only.