A funny entry from the Cohens

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2008)

Following on the coat tails of their recent Oscar winner, No Country for Old Men, the creative film-making partnership of the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, return to somewhat more familiar territory with their most recent film, Burn After Reading, a comedy in their dark, twisted style. Burn After Reading is not one of the Coen's outstanding efforts, but it is more than amusing enough to warrant a recommendation.
Burn After Reading starts it's focus on Oswald Cox (John Malkovich), a CIA analyst who has been reassigned from his position, for, among other things a "drinking problem". Infuriated with this decision, Oswald resigns from the CIA, annoying his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), and providing the catalyst for her to finally seek out a divorce so she can be with her lover, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). Oswald decides to begin writing some memoirs in his now ample spare time, a disc copy of which is inadvertently left in the ladies locker room at a local gym, where it is discovered by Linda Lytzke (Frances McDormand) and her co- worker Chad (Brad Pitt). They decide to use the disc to blackmail Oswald for a significant sum of money so that Linda can pay for cosmetic surgery she so desperately wants.
Burn After Reading can more or less be defined as a comedy, although in some ways it is not presented as one. Carter Burwell's score gives the film a generally serious tone, and the Cohen's are not afraid of taking chances that almost no other comedy would even think of doing. That being said, Burn After Reading is a pretty funny film, although it takes a little while for it to get going. There are some chuckles early in the running time, but this is one of those films that you have to build a bit before the laughs really start coming, and by the end, you are hooked.
Much of the film's humor is provided by Brad Pitt in a somewhat out of type performance as dim-bulb personal trainer Chad. His endless preening, and over-the-top exuberance make for many a laugh in the film. George Clooney is also quite funny as sleazy ladies man Harry, who is a mixture or narcissism and infantilism, and Frances McDormand provides a number of amusing scenes a enhancement obsessed Linda.
Burn After Reading is definitely a film that fits in the Cohen's oeuvre, similar in tone to their Intolerable Cruelty and Raising Arizona, although not quite as funny as either of those films. Even so, Burn After Reading still provides a considerable number of laughs and is a notch above many other comedies, making Burn After Reading worth a trip to the multiplex.