Burn After Reading

[Canelek]

I figured there would be a thread for this....

Went and saw this last night. Short and sweet, another dialogue-driven film by the brothers Coen. Of course, the cast was rather impressive as well. Can't go wrong? Well, anyone who has seen an ad for a new Ocean's 1x movie and gone, "wtf" (like me) may have skipped this one.....thinking that it would be another mug-fest. Luckily, this was not the case. It was not just some payday sequel, much less a standalone crapfest.

Granted, the plot was a bit lacking, it was the comedy and dialogue that glued this together. Fantastic acting. It is amazing how these guys (Ethan and Joel Coen) seem to milk the actors and draw strong comedy. Obviously, they are all talented...however, they all seemed to really enjoy the script, which is not always common. Hell, even if they didn't, there were plenty of laughs, and enough story to keep them interested--and keep me interested as well. The sheer stupidity of the motivation of the protagonists was enough to drive it along--albeit in fits and spurts at the beginning.

At the end.... wow, I can't really go too far here, as it will be pointless. The overall joke itself is pointless to retell, as the laughs are sheerly from a culmination of events and lines, as opposed to some joke chiseled in the script. I enjoyed the film throughout. However, I pretty much was in tears whenever JK Simmons had a scene. I think the rest of the present audience felt the same way. Simmons (and his interaction with his subordinate(David Rasche)) was priceless, simplistic and fucking hilarious.

Don't look for a Fargo or Big Lebowski here. Try more of a Barton Fink, perhaps? A bit lighter than that maybe.... either way, Burn After Reading was a fun as hell movie to see. It will be a initial-release purchase for me, for sure. 8.5/10


edit: Not discounting Malkovich here, of course. His role was subdued, at times, but he came through on all fronts, as usual. Arg, so many cast members of note...will let you decide for yourself.... oh oh oh, and McDormand....she is just awesome..... Pitt was good, Sinton was good.....uhhh.... fuck. Too many big names, but somehow, it worked. Not sure many directors can pull that off.

[Nick]

I caught this at a special preview a few weeks ago. It's a really funny film that's well worth a watch. Canelek is right that due to the Pitt/Clooney element it may initially look like a crappy oceans style film. But its not.

And Pitt is hilarious in it as well. His best film in ages.

It's a Coen Brothers film, you're pretty much guaranteed excellence.

[Tegellan]

I found the movie totally lacking, easily the worst movie I have seen this year. The actors were brilliant and did a bang up job, but they really had nothing to work with, and the story was beyond stupid.

It had a few ha-ha moments, but those were really only because of the actors and a one-liner or two.

[Nick]

Fair enough, but I think the fact they had nothing to work with was sort of the point. In the sense that there was no particularly discernible plot in the "pound you with a basic action plot or whatever sells well". But since when has that stopped films from being awesome? (Magnolia for example).

The tone of the film allowed the actors to really shine. It's the tone that was genius. And new, refreshing, subtle and quality.

But people are obviously allowed their own interpretation ofc.

[Spang]

This could have been a real shitty movie had it not been for the brilliant ending. It really tied the movie together.

[laneela]

I'm not sure if it's an emperor's new clothes thing but most people seemed to have liked this movie. I thought it was complete and utter shite. I may have found the ending brilliant if it hadn't been for the fact that

[Show]

I'd recently seen In Bruges and it did the same thing (killing off/screwing all the leading characters) and it did it much better.

p.s.
the acting was probably phenomenal (the cast certainly was) but I was too obsessed with how terrible the movie was to have noticed

[Zamtuk]

I think you missed the point of the movie. =/

[Show]

Comparing it to In Bruges isn't a proper thing to do. The point of the ending, was that in the grand scheme of things, nothing at all really happened. So you just watched a bunch of ridiculousness that didn't really change nor affect anything except for the lives of the characters involved (George Clooney, in particular, fleeing the country from his own thoughts of conspiracy, was probably the funniest part, but it was left to nothing more than a side quip from that subordinate talking to JK Simmons). Where as in In Bruges, everything happened and changed. They were both great movies, just trying to do different things. I hope that sort of clears it up, as it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[laneela]

No - what you're saying makes complete sense. I guess the reason why you liked it is the same reason why I hated it. As you said:

[Show]

"in the grand scheme of things, nothing at all really happened. So you just watched a bunch of ridiculousness that didn't really change nor affect anything"

[Spang]

That's what made the movie so great.

[Kaldaur]

[Show]

I rewatched Brad Pitt getting shot to hell like 3 times. That was the funniest scene in the movie.

[Spang]

Spoiler that!