One of the Funnier Coen Works

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2009)

I heard one reviewer say that this film is a "Bubby Movie," yah know one of those films where every actor is friends with every other actor and the director (or in this case directors) and they all basically just dick around on camera for 2 hours and call it a movie. I wouldn't call it that necessarily call Burn After Reading that but I would call it a "Hollywood Indie." A Hollywood Indie is a mainstream Hollywood film with a big budget and a huge A-List cast, but whose script sounds like it was written by a struggling Brooklyn artist who previous experiences in film consisted of making Pods for Current TV about how great Barrack Obama apparently is.
The Coen brothers seem to be the kings of Hollywood Indies, since they directed half of the ones I can name off the top of my head. Burn After Reading will most likely be counted among the lesser of the Coen Brothers films, and rightly so since it does seem to lack the aesthetic appeal of their previous films, but I don't think this film should be counted as one of the their funnier films. Most of the Coen Brother's "Comedies" aren't really comedies, their more like movies that are weird in a kind of funny way. Yet the Invisible Pigeon Holeing Society must assign these films a genre, and since their not weird enough to be labeled surrealist or experimental, they get the title comedies simply because a few people in the theater may giggle a few of the "Jokes" in the film.
The point I am desperately trying to get to here is that, I didn't laugh at either The Big Lebowski or O' Brother, Where Art' Thou despite the fact they are rather funny, I laughed several times at Burn After Reading, and I laughed rather hard to. Burn After Reading is weird, as are all Dark Comedies, but it's not quite to the level as most Coen films, weather this a complement of an insult is a matter of interpretation.
What really impressed me in this film was Brad Pitt's and Frances McDormand's performances, everyone else's performances were "take it or leave it." Brad and Frances are like some kind of weird Fitness Center Employee Duo who stumble upon CIA secrets somehow and try to milk to cow for what it's worth. I knew Frances was a good actress, but Brad Pitt acting well is something new to me. I mean I always through his performance in Fight Club was good only because he really was playing the same character he usually does but this time in a quality film. I don't know if the Coen Brothers did something to him, or maybe he's been hiding something from us, but his character is by far the best in the film. But then again his character is a dribbling idiotic health nut with some mildly homosexual personality traits, so maybe Brad wasn't even acting, maybe he was just being himself (Ha Ha Ha).
What makes Burn after reading less of a film then most Coen Brother's work is that there is not any real thought involved. The second I pressed the stop button on my DVD I almost totally forgot about the movie, a good film is one can't get out of your head for a week after watching it, and most Coen Brother films do that. Listen, Burn After Reading is out on DVD now so it's defiantly worth renting, especially if you have Netflix. It's good for some laughs, and it's still rather Coen-y so go pick it up.