Cast: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton; Directors: Ethan Coen, Jeol Coen; Producers: Tim Bevan, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Eric Fellner; Screenwriters: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; Music: Carter Burwell; Editors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; Genre: Comedy/ Crime; Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki; Distributor: Viva Films; Location: New York, USA; Running Time: 96 min.;Technical Assessment: 3.5
Moral Assessment: 3
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) quits when he learns he is being fired. He decides to write his memoirs and saves them on a computer disc which Washington-based physical fitness instructors Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) discover. Linda desperately needs money to undergo cosmetic surgery, hoping it would be her key to finding the right man. Chad is an airhead, and since they believe they have classified information in their hands, they scheme to blackmail Cox. But Cox, a self-righteous alcoholic, is too smart to fall for the ploy, so the odd couple instead try to sell the disc to the Russians. The Russians, in turn, couldn’t care less, but lovelorn Linda and Chad are not about to give up that easily.
Burn After Reading is a crisp, well-crafted tragicomedy written and directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen who won an Oscar last year for their grim work, No Country for Old Men. The pendulum swings to the extreme opposite as the perfectly cast top-flight actors and the witty, tight script give life to a small world full of losers. The actors deliver fabulous performances in this dark comedy—delivering surprises to the viewer so accustomed to seeing them in more or less type-cast roles. Who would think Brad Pitt, voted one of the “sexiest men in the world”, could break his own glamorous image by playing such a convincing all-brawn-and-no-brain gym instructor? Can you imagine the smooth and suave ladies’ man George Clooney swinging between being an opportunistic womanizer and a jittery paranoid? The great John Malkovich, who seems to have been born to play psychotic roles, here gets funnier the angrier he becomes. All the playors, really, deserve applause for putting together this highly polished and entertaining film.
Burn After Reading is a comedy meant to take you beyond laughter. Offering great gags—thanks to the plot and the well-measured humor packaged in dialogue that respects the viewer’s intelligence—the film presents the human condition which is at once pathetic and laughable. After watching it, the family may dwell on questions such as: How far could a woman go to be loved by a man? What would a man do to affirm his self-image? In what ways does the business of espionage dehumanize people? How can the formation of conscience in youth affect one’s decisions in adult life? How important is self-knowledge in guiding one through the pursuit of one’s dreams? Caution on the foul language which youngsters might tend to imitate.
