Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/19/2008 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #645 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2008-12-21
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.com
After the dark brilliance of No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading may seem like a trifle, but few filmmakers elevate the trivial to art quite like Joel and Ethan Coen. Inspired by Stansfield Turner's Burn Before Reading, the comically convoluted plot clicks into gear when the CIA gives analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) the boot. Little does Cox know his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton, riffing on her Michael Clayton character), is seeing married federal marshal Harry (George Clooney, Swinton's Clayton co-star, playing off his Syriana role). To get back at the Agency, Cox works on his memoirs. Through a twist of fate, fitness club workers Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt in a pompadour that recalls Johnny Suede) find the disc and try to wrangle a "Samaratin tax" out of the surly alcoholic. An avid Internet dater, Linda plans to use the money for plastic surgery, oblivious that her manager, Ted (The Visitor's Richard Jenkins), likes her just the way she is. Though it sounds like a Beltway remake of The Big Lebowski, the Coen entry it most closely resembles, this time the brothers concentrate their energies on the myriad insecurities endemic to the mid-life crisis--with the exception of Chad, who's too dense to share such concerns, leading to the funniest performance of Pitt's career. If Lebowski represented the Coen's unique approach to film noir, Burn sees them putting their irresistibly absurdist stamp on paranoid thrillers from Enemy of the State to The Bourne Identity. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Stills from Burn After Reading (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Pretty Great
After the true genius of No Country For Old Men, the Coen Brothers come back with a whole new dimension. Burn After Reading is a dark comedy about idiots faced with an intelligent and complex situation. Two Gym instructors Linda Litsky (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) find a disc containing the memoirs of ex CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich). They, being idiots think it's a disc containing top secret information and try to bribe Osbourne for money which would help pay for Linda's cosmetic surgery. Things don't go to plan as Osbourne has bigger things on his mind, his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with the paranoid Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney).

This film is actually quite intelligent in its own right, the characters seem well defined and are played superbly. The characters were specifically written for the actor playing them and it really shows.

John Malkovich portrays the agent lost of all hope well, you become quite intimidated by both his intelligence and temper.

George Clooney as the paranoid individual who's having more affairs than you can wave a stick at doesn't falter. He's jumpy, but hey who wouldn't be if you were sleeping with three different women. This eratic behaviour becomes a bit tragic and leads to the death of one of the characters in the film.

Brad Pitt as the loveable and wannabe cunning idiot is fantastic, the facial expressions and general stereotypical dexterity of what we would expect a personal trainer to be really works. This becomes especially amusing when he enters into the bribing game with Malkovich and starts to enter into the character of cunning spy. It has to be seen to be believed.

Frances McDormands character is the real shining light of the whole film as she's the catalyst leading up to the films biggest events. She's a middle aged gym instructor paranoid over the look of her body. While trying to get plastic surgery, she's turned down by her insurance company and is the one that convinces Pitts character to bribe Cox. She's a woman on the edge of giving up on life and wants to take one last leap into the chance of a relationship, but is made even more nervous by her own body insecurities.

The Coens once again create a film that is both surreal and believable, the characters are shockingly brilliant. The scenario is a bit over the top but comes together perfectly. There is something that bothered me, however, and that's the fact that every character in the film seemed to be having an affair with someone else. I don't know, maybe that was the whole point that made the film work. For fans of the Coens this is definitely one that sits proudly in their film catalogue next to such greats as No Country For Old Men and The Big Lebowski. I would strongly recommend it to any film fan overall, it's definitely worth it just for the Brad Pitt & Clooney facial expressions. Be warned though as if you're easily offended by swearing, then you might as well take your pad and pen with you to start writing your complaints letter.

Wonderful Black Comedy
The Coen brothers are nothing if not eclectic in their choice of film projects. "Fargo", "The Big Lebowksi", "No Country for Old Men" and, now, "Burn After Reading". Each film is quite unique. There is certainly no danger of the brothers being type cast.

"Burn After Reading" is a spoof spy film set in Washington. Its ensemble cast includes George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich and a wonderfully and eccentrically cast Brad Pitt. No one character steals the show. This could be a danger with such names but, somehow, the brothers ensure that each character has a role to play in this romp without any one actor taking all the lime light.

The plot involves a whole series of misunderstandings and mistakes as the lives of each character come closer together. In the end, paranoia runs rampant as some seem to win but, others, clearly lose. Perhaps the best way to describe the film is as black comedy. It is more subtle than the usual Hollywood comedy in the style of Jim Carrey or Steve Martin. It is also much darker. Yet, for all the double dealing, mistakes and misapprehensions, the story manages to remain connected as a whole. At no time does the viewer fail to join the dots.

Do not go looking for some greater or deeper meaning. "Burn After Reading" is simply a well cast spoof.

The Idiocy Of This World
It's easy to watch a Coen brothers film and leave it wondering exactly what the point was. Their films seem to be exercises in hilarious subtleties, demonstrating humanity's most interesting strengths and weaknesses. The plots sprawl and fray, the characters seem to exist independently of each other, and the whole thing can often come across as slapdash. Or so muted that the only impression it leaves is quizzical.

I've been a huge fan for a long time (ever since I saw Blood Simple, in fact), and I don't believe these guys have ever made a movie that didn't have a serious point to make. Even The Big Lebowski, arguably one of their most absurd works, had a lot to say about the way honest laziness can sometimes thrive in spite of the malicious excesses of those who are more powerful and harder working.

"So, what did we learn?" asks a CIA official at the end of BURN AFTER READING. Well, let's see.

The film begins with CIA analyst Osborne Cox (a spot-on Malkovich) being demoted due to alcoholism. Cox, rather than be disgraced, quits and begins work on his memoirs (between drinks). The CIA keeps tabs on him, and around him suddenly swirls a mess of senseless intrigue that involves a twitchy sex addict who works for the Treasury (George Clooney), a vain and desperate gym employee (Frances McDormand), and her clueless (but Can Do!) buddy, Chad (Brad Pitt). When Cox's memoirs make their way into McDormand's hands, she sees a way to solve her woes by blackmailing the analyst into paying for a bevy of cosmetic surgeries.

Aside from the typically convoluted plot, the film is a dark and dead-pan comedy about how the frailties of adulthood (alcoholism, sexual indiscretions, blind personal vanity) can alter the lives of people who deserve much better. Looked at from head-on, the movie is sorta depressing, even though many of the characters get exactly what they're looking for. That's, of course, not really the point.

Near the end of the film, analyst Cox confronts a person who has become involved in the plot to use his memoirs for personal gain. "You represent the idiocy of this world," he sneers. Making sense of idiocy is something the Coen brothers have been doing for a long, long time, and even if the government agents keeping tabs on all the lies and greed-grubbing don't do such a good job of learning from the craziness, that doesn't mean an astute viewer can't find something to take away from the theatre.