Burn After Reading (Blu-ray)

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The Coen Brothers are among my favorite filmmakers. "Barton Fink," "Fargo," "No Country For Old Men" and "The Big Lebowski" are films I love dearly and I eagerly await each and every film from Joel and Ethan Coen. With John Malkovich, George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt starring in the ensemble cast, "Burn After Reading" is one of the more star-driven pictures from the talented brothers and the theatrical trailer that promoted "Burn After Reading" was easily one of the best trailers I had seen in years. It just screamed to me that "Burn After Reading" was a film I very much needed to see and the movie quickly became one of the must-see movies of 2008. It seems almost impossible that the Coens can create a bad film and "Burn After Reading" seemed guaranteed to be an instant classic from the two.

The movie tells the story of sexual promiscuity, blackmail and deceit. The primary character in the film is Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) and how he loses his job as a CIA field analyst due to alcoholism. He decides to not accept a lesser position and believes that he can write a book based upon his memoirs. Unfortunately, his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is unhappy with their marriage and having an affair with Treasury agent Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). Katie is secretly seeking a divorce and she hands over private files that include notes for Osbourne´s memoires to her attorney. The files are lost at the attorney´s secretary´s gym and recovered by gym employee Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). Chad enlists the help of his close friend Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) to approach Osbourne about the believed-to-be secret files so that Linda may get four cosmetic surgeries.

Chad and Linda contact Osbourne and the veteran CIA agent is not too happy to deal with the rookie blackmailers and what begins as a simple ´good samaritan´ return of lost materials quickly becomes a twisted web of foreign espionage as Linda desperately wants the money for the information on the disc and turns the files over the Russian embassy in hopes that there is something sensitive on the discs that would earn her a nice payoff for the intelligence from the Russians. The information is not the only thing being passed around as Linda becomes sexually active with Harry after the two meet through an online dating service and the sexual relationships between the main characters becomes another tangled mess that has tragic ends for some of those involved in the story.

"Burn After Reading" is another very solid film from the filmmaking brothers and while I do not feel it is quite as important as "Fargo," "The Big Lebowski" or "No Country For Old Men," it is a movie certainly worth watching. The Coens have written the film to be a collection of characters written specifically for the actors cast in the film and they show their talent by scribing a very engaging and interesting story that may not be as deep as some of their other efforts, but is better than ninety percent of what is released into cineplexes today. This is a dark comedy that takes a tragic turn and there is a lot of serious moments to sit through that lacks some of the humor of some of their other films. In some ways, the pacing of this story reminds me more of "Barton Fink" and some of the earlier Coen Brothers´ films. The overall situation becomes the humorous element and the characters routinely don´t do anything funny, aside from Brad Pitt´s dancing.

While the story is strong, the actors are what truly holds "Burn After Reading" together. John Malkovich has since his successful run in the Nineties that culminated with "Being John Malkovich" and "Shadow of the Vampire," but the quirky actor shows his craft in this film with a wonderful performance that could not have been done better by anybody else. Watching Malkovich shout angrily at his co-stars in a calm and collected manner is the strongest asset of this film. Joel Coen´s wife Frances McDormand has become a staple of the Coen Brothers films and she puts in her usual solid performance, although her part in this film is nothing compared to her role in "Fargo." Clooney´s third outing with the Coen Brothers allows Clooney to once again take on an unusual role, but one that suits the actor perfectly. He is very good as the over-sexed Harry. Brad Pitt is allowed to go through the entire film as an air-headed health fanatic pretty boy and he is the true comedy relief for this film.

I enjoyed "Burn After Reading" and while it was not the instant classic that I had hoped it would be, it is another very strong effort from Joel and Ethan Coen. The film really did have the perfect theatrical trailer and I was saddened to see that it was not included on the Blu-ray release, but that trailer had roped me in and sent me out to enjoy the film. It was just as fun the second time around and I continue to be impressed with the strong writing and acting put forth for this film. Malkovich needs to return to some higher profile pictures and he is almost a wasted talent in Hollywood these days. Perhaps he can become a staple in Coen Brothers´ films as George Clooney and John Goodman have become. This is a dark comedy that includes a few strong laughs, but is not a laugh-out-loud film. Fans of the Coens should easily embrace this film, while others may just view it as a quirky but enjoyable picture. It is worth anybody´s time to watch and could hardly be considered a waste of two hours.