Burn After Reading - Review

Over the last decade and half, Joel and Ethan Coen have carved out their own niche in American cinema. Their films offer usually sparse landscapes, questionable characters, a good deal of idiocy and of course, some very very disturbing horror. They work to portray the every man faced with unordinary circumstances such as the Dude in "The Big Lebowski (1998)" or Llewelyn Moss in "No Country for Old Men (2007)." In this years "Burn After Reading," the brothers add another chapter to their American landscape. Unfortunately, all the characters are one dimensional, the timing is frought with numerous lulls in the plot, and America, which the Coen brothers have always depicted in a new and often surprising light, are now the target of much ridicule and cynicism for the team.

The story is an ensemble act loaded with talent that has questionable pay offs. Frances McDormand portrays a fitness center employee who is desperately seeking two things: human companionship and cosmetic surgery. When another employee discovers a disc containing what appear to be government secrets, she, accompanied with her idiotic friend Chad(Brad Pitt) sees this as her chance to finally be able to make the changes in her life that she desires. This disc belongs to Osbourne Cocks(the ever talented John Malkovich) as a bitter and recently fired CIA analyst. The story is is teeming with infidelity, alcoholism and sexual depravity, but perhaps this rounds out the black comedy well.

What I must commend for this piece is that it does offer some fresh perspectives for the stylization that comes with a Coen brothers film. With each movie they make they seem to tighten their lens on a distinctly different part of the U.S. With "Fargo" it was the culture and crime of the deep north. With "The Big Lebowski" it was the dirty, decreped parts of LA that took center stage, and with "No Country for Old Men" the arid South West and it's Spanish culture was splayed out. But here we are privy to the mansions of D.C., the refined suburbs of Maryland and the sleek offices of our government intelligence agencies.

Now, do not let it be mistaken that although this is in my opinion a weak Coen brothers film, this work ranks leaps and bounds above what is more than often playing at the multiplex. The film is satisfyingly funny and dark, it is always fun to see the U.S. government personified in varies shades of bumbling ignorance. And things like fitness centers, online dating, sex fetishes, morning talk shows and divorce are all things that are easily relatable, albeit easy targets. This film succeeds to paint a vision of extreme black comedy in a world of work-a-holics and complete morons, but if you are looking for fresh takes on old shlock espionage spoofs, you might come up empty handed.