Be more funny

Rating: 5/10 (8 July 2010)

Burn After Reading is a movie which starts with great promise, thanks mostly to John Malkovich who plays newly fired CIA analyst Osbourne Cox. Initially it seems this is the character who will be the focus of the movie. If only. All too quickly the movie veers away from Osbourne and that's a shame because Malkovich is easily the best thing this movie has going for it. Once the focus shifts to other characters the movie begins to fizzle out. Osbourne pops up now and again and whenever he does Malkovich injects some life back into the movie. But those moments are all too fleeting. As the story plays out you want to give the movie the benefit of the doubt. It started so well. And it is after all a Coen brothers movie. These guys obviously know what they're doing right? But as the movie slogs along you eventually come to the point where you realize it's just not going to happen. This movie is never going to come together properly. In a nutshell it turns out to be a black comedy without any comedy. And who wants to see something like that? Yes, even the best filmmakers miss the mark sometimes. This is no Fargo or Lebowski. This is in the end a real disappointment.
This is a movie about some incredibly stupid people. You would think that would at least provide the opportunity to laugh at all the stupidity on display. But these people are too pathetic to laugh at. What we see here is more sad than funny. Brad Pitt plays gym employee Chad Feldheimer and this character is indescribably stupid. Mere words can not possibly express how dumb this fellow is. And Pitt really seems to be overacting, trying so hard to make something out of this dim bulb. But the effort fails. The character is a joke but not a funny one. What an incredibly annoying character Chad turns out to be. And fellow gym employee Linda Litzke, played by Frances McDormand, isn't much better. At least McDormand is more subtle than Pitt in expressing her character's stupidity. That's something I guess. Completing the circle of stupidity is George Clooney playing U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer. On the surface it may seem that Harry's smarter than the other dopes. He's not. Anyhow these idiots find themselves caught up in something way beyond the capacity of their feeble little brains and that should lead to some good laughs. But it never does. The only good moments come when Osbourne Cox pops up as Malkovich is always good for some memorable volcanic eruptions. But mostly we're just dragging our way towards a finish which leaves some characters looking back and wondering what exactly was the point of all this. That's a very good question. The whole thing was rather pointless. And rather unfunny. All in all it's a very disappointing effort from a directing tandem we've come to expect such great things from.