a country for old and young men and women

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2009)

After the Coen brothers won Best Picture for "No Country for Old Men", I hoped that they would follow it with something good. They did just that. John Malkovich plays an fired CIA agent - actually, he got demoted, and preferred quitting to getting demoted - who writes a memoir. The only problem is, his wife (Tilda Swinton) wants a divorce, and so she copies his memoirs onto a disk and leaves it in a local gym, where two employees (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt) get their hands on it! And the story snowballs from there! Seriously, don't get me started.
In my opinion, Brad Pitt's character is easily the best in the movie: he's an immature dope with a go-nowhere life. I'd say that George Clooney really has his moment right after he...well, if you see the movie then you can probably guess to which scene I refer. I should say that the movie probably won't induce belly laughs; it's the subtle humor that you have to catch. And you're sure to enjoy it once you catch it.
What's the movie's overall point? Maybe there's none, but there is one possibility that I interpreted. When I saw how Pitt and McDormand come across the disk containing Malkovich's info and cynically set out to use this rarity for their own benefit, it reminded me a bit of Chuck Jones's cartoon "One Froggy Evening", in which a construction worker finds a singing frog and tries to make money from it. But that's just conjecture, so don't quote me.
Anyway, I truly recommend "Burn After Reading". You're sure to like it. Also starring Richard Jenkins (Nate Sr. on "Six Feet Under"), Elizabeth Marvel, David Rasche, J.K. Simmons (Peter's boss in "Spider-Man"), Devin Rumer, Olek Krupa and Dermot Mulroney.