First I would like to say that I am a huge Coen Brothers fan. I love almost all their movies although I have not seen all of them. I love their style the way they take simple ideas and turn them into something interesting and compelling. I love their take on philosohpy and views on life. I love the way their characters are developed in their films, the way they talk, who they are. I love the Coen brothers, unfourtuntately this film was nothing like thier other movies. It didn't contain hardly any of their trademarks. It gave me no reason to like the characters or the movie for that matter.

Two gym employees Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer find a disc containing CIA memoirs of Osbourne Cox. Osbourne has been fired from the CIA and his wife has been having an affair with State Department worker Harry. Osborne tries to track down who has his memoirs while Chad and Linda try to sell them to Russia thinking they hold important American secrets. Things start to get complicated and people start showing up dead.

I don't know why but I really did not like this movie. I didn't see the humor and rarely laughed. The parts I did like about it were never really done well enoguh. The dialoge has its moments of Coen esque brillance but those moments are few and far between. The cast is great and many of their usual players show up. The acting is fine for the most part, I liked Brad Pitt the most. ***SPOILER**** Which is why I was p!ssed that he died so early on.***END SPOILER***

Burn After Reading just feels like an unfocused movie, they wrote it the same time they were writing No Country For Old men and its easy to see where the majority of their effort went during the writing process. What could have been a clever film is ultimately sold out for cheap plot turns and lazy ideas. In the end it just feels like its missing a lot starts to feel very pointless. I like the setup to the film but it takes its premise and does nothing with it.

The acting is pretty good for the most part. Brad Pitt is easily my favorite actor in the film and his performance is quite fun. Coen regular Francis McDormand shows up. She is good but ultimately feels a little flat in her role. George Clooney is in this playing a smooth talking fast talking guy which he does fine. John Malkovich is pretty good as a desperate ex-CIA member. Tilda Swinton is fine as his cold wife. And Richard Jenkins is enjoyable as is J.K. Simmons.

The Coen brothers are great at crafting screwball comedies, Raising Arizona and most notably Big Lebowski. But it feels like they have lost their magic of turning odd plots and making them funny and random. It even feels like their trying to duplicate Big Lebowski with some of the plot points. The comedy feels forced and never seems to generate solid laughs, I chuckled a few times but that was about it. I'm not sure why they felt the need to fit in a d!ldo machine in the movie I will never know but it did not feel like the Coen Brothers. This movie just felt like it was something trying to reenact a Coen Brothers movie and failing.

Overall this was probably the worst Coen brothers movie I've seen. I still love them as filmmakers as they have made enough classics that I think they can get away with a few bad films. Nothing worked for me with this movie, the plot felt weak and nothing to support it. Even at 96 minutes it feels overlong and incomplete. I don't know plenty of people seemed to like this even most of my friends so maybe I'm just weird. I love the Coen's but this film failed for me on almost every level. Some good moments of dialog were prevelant as was the acting but the humor wasn't funny, it wasn't as smart as it wanted to be and it just felt boring and pointless. Huge disapointment. Having said all this, I am really looking forward to their next film: A Serious Man, in theatres Oct. 2nd.

1.5 stars rounded up

Cast

Brad Pitt - Chad Feldheimer

Francis McDormand - Linda Litzke

George Clooney - Harry Pfarrer

John Malkovich - Osbourne Cox

Tilda Swinton - Katie Cox

Richard Jenkens - Ted Treffon

J.K. Simmons - CIA Superior

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older