For lovers of classic cinema and mature, edgy character comedy.

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 2008)

Being the second Coen brothers' movie of this year alone, thirst for more output from them isn't necessarily at a high, yet that won't stop most audiences from getting excited. Thankfully, such excitement won't be without its foundations, as Burn After Reading, although not quite as remarkable as this year's previous effort, is just as effective at managing to deliver what it sets out to do. In stark contrast to the brothers' No Country for Old Men, this outing sees them adopting their much more familiar satirically witty tone throughout, delivering what is perhaps their most comical and sharpest movie to date. Headlined by an all-star cast, and with a multi-layered story that revolves around national security and the personalities of all involved (plus a few Gym employees), there's a rich body of ingredients to take in here, especially on a one-view basis, but while such a movie is best suited to repeat watching, it's not hard to see the raw entertainment value present first time. Hilarious, engaging and always refreshing to watch, Burn After Reading is a cinematic treat of sorts; nice and easy, focused and all about telling a good story with even better characters.
As has been the case with the Coens for so many years now, the tone established throughout this feature walks the fine line of satirical comedy mixed with compelling character drama and even a few instances of thriller-orientated action. Through this tricky razor edge narrative, the brothers create a movie that amuses at its peaks but doesn't necessarily flow as fluidly as their more renowned works. Nevertheless, despite some pacing problems, from start to finish, all involved manage to nail the mesh between shtick and drama effectively enough to give you quite a few belly-laughs whilst avoiding degrading the whole experience into a ridiculous, flat-out comedy driven feature. Sure enough, the humour is dark at times, and the satire is thin, but delivered by the cast involved who in turn are portraying their own mix of off-the-wall characters, Burn after Reading does well to get you on its side right from the beginning when Malkovich walks in and begins dropping the f-bomb left, right and centre. Off-put with plenty of drama and thriller tinges, the mix is potent, and the directors do well to keep things in balance so as to keep the majority of the film consistent in tone and focus.
Perhaps the single greatest element of the film and indeed, the directors themselves is their ability to bring out the best of their cast, and in turn without resorting to personas that such actors have done in the past. In fact with the odd exception of Malkovich, pretty much all of the lead stars here have roles that go against their grain so to say. George Clooney is probably the biggest example of this here, playing sleazy Harry Pfarrer with utter conviction; there are no sly smiles here that bring on the charm, these smiles have quite a bit of coldness behind them. Brad Pitt too extends himself beyond his regular cool-cat persona and portrays always-eager fitness freak dunderhead Chad Feldheimer in what is possibly the most entertaining performance throughout the feature. Frances McDormand, although regressing back somewhat to her character in Fargo, gets to have fun with eccentric, obsessive and neurotic Linda Litzke, and Malkovich a recently quit C.I.A. agent going through divorce, often finding himself sleeping at midday and drinking at night before losing his head.
Sure enough all these names are enough to make any cinephile get excited, yet the result is even more arresting than imagined. Put together, the actors work tremendously and play off each other exactly as is needed to keep on the edge of that razor of thrilling drama and comedy; there are moments of sheer hilarious caricature, but these are also off-put with grounded drama that only supports these instances of comedy insomuch that we see characters getting into these situations; we laugh when they laugh and we laugh when they react a certain way, because in a sense, we know them. As such, this is Burn after Reading's real centrepiece highlight; the characters are entertaining and at the same time compelling thanks to tight, focused direction from the Coens and spot-on performances and chemistry from the highly capable cast.
Sure enough, there are elements that conflict in the Coen's script that even they can't seem to work around when it gets to piecing all of their convoluted parts together. As such, pacing and momentum can dip during specific segments, particularly during the opening act. In this respect Burn after Reading distances itself from the picture-perfect flow of similarly toned Fargo, but not by much. It's a low-key effort, and a more than capable one at that, even if fans of this year's No Country for Old Men and the classic Fargo may leave the cinema a little under-whelmed. When it comes to delivering a highly enjoyable two hour ride full of laughs, thrilling plotting and refreshing characters portrayed by top-rate performers however, Burn after Reading certainly does its job. Put simply, this is good cinematic fun with plenty of intelligence behind it all to keep things interesting; for lovers of classic cinema and mature, edgy character comedy but you probably already guessed that just from reading the name Coen.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)