Review: Burn After Reading
Brad Pitt and John Malkovich star in latest Coen brothers movie
This is a highly classified review. So secret and sensitive is the following material that I advise you to Burn After Reading – which may be problematic if reading this online...
The report on the Coen brothers' latest cinematic experience crucially indicates the potential full-scale incompetence of none other than the CIA.
The first subject under investigation is CIA analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), who quits his job after being sidelined – once his drinking problem is mentioned.
His comeback to his superior is, however, typical of Coen brother sublimeness: "You're a Mormon. Compared to you we all have a drinking problem."
The second subject is gym worker Linda (Frances McDormand), a lovelorn single who dreams of elective surgery to give her a better chance of finding Mr Right. She and dim co-worker Chad (Brad Pitt), stumble upon Cox's memoirs on a disc and hatch an ill-fated blackmail scam.
Also in this tangled web is womanising wide boy Harry (George Clooney), who carries a big gun, works for the Treasury Department and is having a sordid affair with Cox's wife Katie (Tilda Swinton).
Things get rapidly out of hand with multiple path crosses, double crosses and much profanity backed up by some genuinely hilarious screwball comedy.
This isn't anything like the awesome gritty thrills of the Coens' No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading is much more like a mix between their genius Big Lebowski and much-maligned Ladykillers.
The result is uneven and veers from laugh out loud moments to mild bewilderment, but overall it's a film worth seeing as long as you're not averse to sporadic acts of violence.
Everyone in Burn After Reading seems to be having a real hoot putting this together. The sense of madcap fun is infectious and you just can't help but get caught up in the maverick glee streaming from the screen.
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Weather for Biggleswade
Sunday 12 February 2012
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