A Coen comedy of Shakespearian proportions. An American Farce

Rating: 8/10 (24 October 2008)

Lsst year saw the Coens reach a new height of success with their multiple Oscar winning, gritty, tense and relentless masterpiece: No Country For old Men. This year they've gone for a more light hearted and comical addition to their film archive with Burn After Reading.
To put it simply, its about some supposedly confidential CIA data that ends up in the hands of some low brow gym workers that want to sell it back to a CIA analyst. The story slowly unravels and the genius of the Coen's screenplay unfolds.
The cast is simply fantastic. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances Mcdormand and Tilda Swinton. Whats unusual about this cast is that they all have a relatively equal role in the film rather than one actor given a leading role to push for an Oscar (like Brolin in W.). Its a film of supporting actors that pull off exceptional performances. In terms of Oscars, I could see Malkovich's portrayal of the clinically insane CIA analyst Osbourne Cox receiving a nomination and possibly Pitt's performance as the dim-witted Chad getting some notice. But all in all a group of convincing and hilarious performances. I could see the Coen's get a nomination for their script but I doubt the academy will give them the award twice in a row unfortunately but a nomination alone is enough to value its merit.
The Coen's comedy is very dry and whats so clever about it is that the humour comes from very topical and trivial situations rather than the cheap comedy you get in spoofs etc. This is clever comedy. For example, Osbourne's over-swearing is oddly hilarious but all the Coen's are doing is presenting a natural reaction. It seems as if they haven't gone out of their way to include the comedy in the script, the comedy speaks for itself in the characters.
Now lets take a step back from the specifics of the film. To put it bluntly, this film is a series of mishaps, follies and misunderstanding between a bunch of incongruous characters. Much like Shakespeare's 'Much ado about nothing', this film is about nothing, being made a big deal.
I may be jumping the gun here, but I do see this as modern Shakespeare. The nature and unusualness of the story seems to match the quality of Shakespeare's 'Much ado about nothing' and possibly some of his other poems. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a complex drama but the irony of the story just cries Shakespeare to me. Also, the governmental satire seems to hint Kubrick's Dr Strangelove which is also a film of mishaps met with stupidity.
The Coen's have devised a very smart piece of comedy. I see this as the 'Much ado about nothing' and 'Dr Strangelove' of our time, met with the usual high standards of direction and cinematography with the Coen's Apologies if the reference to Shakespeare appears pretentious as I don't want to present this as a pretentious film. Its a fun, crazy and dryly hilarious.
Absolutely excellent film 8.4/10