Review: Burn After Reading

I rarely do reviews on here. But when I see a movie that I think is particularly noteworthy I will (try) to post a review up here. Last night, I saw one! Warning - there are some SPOILERS in the review:

"Burn After Reading" is the Cohen Brothers followup to last years Oscar Award winning triumph "No Country for Old Men". And what a welcome change of pace it is. Gone is the day of wayward innocents coming accross fortune and trying to escape from baddies. Well, maybe not. This is almost "No Country" mixed with Laurel and Hardy, if Laurel and Hardy were two dim-witted gym employees. The Cohen brothers always cast their movies well, and here they have struck a goldmine. I fear if any member of the central cast was replaced, the movie may have failed.

The movie revolves around Osbourne Cox (wonderfully over-played by the always wonderful John Malkovitch). Osbourne has recently been fired from the CIA and decides to use his newfound retirement as a chance to write his memoirs. His wife Katie (played by one of my favorites Tilda Swinton) finds this laughable and is constantly bored with him. So bored in fact that she is in the process of filing for a divorce and having an affair with another government employee, Harry Pfarrer (played by George Cloony who, like a good wine, only seems to be getting better and better).

Meanwhile Linda Litsky (the always hillarious Frances McDormand) is past her midlife crisis and wanting plastic surgery, 4 procedures to be correct. She works at Hardbodies Gym and is currently addicted to online dating, not knowing her true love may just be her boss (the kind hearted Ted played by Richard Jenkins). When a mysterious disc shows up in the ladies bathroom of Hardbodies, Linda and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt in his funniest role to date) hatch a plan to get a reward for the discs information which includes Osbournes secret finances, and perhaps even important CIA information.

What follows is a histerical glimpse at bribery gone horrible wrong. All of our characters (with exception perhaps of Pitt's) are not likeable people. Osbourne is a total loser who also is a maniac, Katie is cheating on her husband and planning to rob him of all is money in the divorce proceedings, Linda is obsessed with how she looks - so much so that she cannot see the man of her dreams in front of her, and Harry is also cheating on his wife with Katie, Linda, and countless others. (Note: He is also building something very mysterious in his basement.) However, likeability factor aside, this cast makes each character interesting and funny.

The Cohens know how to shock an audience, and this film portrays that just as well as "No Country" and some of their other big hits. Sure, the wood chopper scene in "Fargo" is shocking, but so is the closet scene in this film. Whereas Javier Bardem brandished a very scary homemade gun, John Malkovitch shows he has some mean hatchet skills. It is a delight to see all of these characters thrown into the abyss as everyone becomes paranoid by everyone and everything around them.

It all leads up .. not much actually. But why should it? This is a movie about 2 outcasts trying to reclaim a new start and not knowing how. As JK Simmons (last seen in Juno and here as the CIA Superior) puts it: "What have we learned about this? .. Not much. Come back to me when it makes sense."

This movie, of which I had high expectations, exceeded what I knew was going to be a treat of a film. It also was semi-romantic because me and Nicholas' first date was at the Davis theatre seeing "No Country", and now almost 8 months later we returned to watch the new Cohen film. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

**** out of *****