Review - The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading is about a CIA analyst/agent (John Malkovich) who decides to start writing his memoirs after he quits his job when he was confronted by his superiors that he has a drinking problem. The disk containing the memoirs of the CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it. This film is a dark comedy with some great laughs scattered throughout the film.

The performances by the cast were excellent, including the vain Linda (Francis McDormond) who is desperate to do anything she can to have her plastic surgery done, her airheaded but loveable gym coworker/accomplice Chad (Brad Pitt), the paranoid sexual deviant Harry (George Clooney), and of course the always entertaining and mesmerizing John Malkovich, who plays former CIA agent Osborne Cox.

The two performances that stood out most for me were Malkovich and Pitt – Malkovich, with his great portrayal of an angry Ivy League man who thinks everything is entitled to him, was outstanding. The way he delivered his lines in a sarcastic and ever increasing tone was brilliant – I was both floored and very amused with his colorful language and reactions to the increasingly stressful challenges he faces. I absolutely loved Pitt’s character Chad, and maybe that’s partly because Chad reminds me of an old friend of mine. Chad tries to be a firm, strong minded tough guy, but deep down he’s really just a funny, simple minded, fun loving nice guy that you’d love to hang around with. This was not a typical role that I’m using to seeing Brad Pitt do, so watching him having fun with this role was a delight. Richard Jenkins was memorable as Ted, Linda’s boss who although did not have a whole lot of screen time came out as a very caring and thoughtful but misdirected friend of Linda.

This was a good movie that due to its short run time (96 min.) does not allow enough time to completely flesh out all the main characters. The story was all right with the characters’ separate lives intertwining with one another, but it was the cast who really made this the good movie that it is, if you enjoy dark comedies. I give Burn After Reading a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.