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From Amazon.co.uk
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
Product Description
John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, George Clooney and Brad Pitt star in this Coen brothers crime comedy concerning the whereabouts of a sensitive disc containing the incriminating memoirs of alcoholic CIA agent Osbourne Cox (Malkovich). Cox's wife, Katie (Swinton), who is having an affair with married federal marshall, Harry Pfarrer (Clooney), is making plans to leave her husband, and is advised by her divorce lawyer to copy his personal files onto a disc. The disc finds its way via a circuitous route to the Hardbodies fitness gym, where two unscrupulous employees, Linda (McDormand) and Chad (Pitt) decide to exploit their find for all they can get. Events soon spiral out of everyone's control in a cascading series of surreal and darkly comic encounters and misunderstandings.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By J. Adams
Format:DVD
Watched this movie last Saturday night-wife and-I laughed ourselves silly. A Coen bros movie, what more could you ask?
I think it is a movie for intelligent people, however.
I think it is a movie for intelligent people, however.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By A. Willard
Format:DVD
There's an awful lot of 1 star reviews on here for this - seems a bit harsh to me. Of course the Coens are always going to annoy some people - they are a bit smart-arsey and their habit of leaving out certain scenes which could be construed as being `integral' to the plot is a long-standing joke of theirs which they obviously find very funny. They were even at it in `No Country', which was finally their major breakthrough to the mainstream - the shoot-out between Moss and the Mexicans? But I'm a long-time fan and despite the occasional stinker (`Intolerable Cruelty' and `The Ladykillers'), they've made me laugh more than just about anybody else over the last 30 years, so I'll stick with them.
So how do they follow up the commercial and artistic success of `No Country`? With a film about a bunch of selfish, bungling middle-aged losers making a mess of their and everybody else's lives, that's how. If there's a common theme to the Coens films' then it's `nobody knows anything', and never was that truer than here. This is their take on the spy genre, the `Bourne' films and others of that ilk; but instead of being full of smart, dangerous killers there's just a bunch of useless idiots constantly cocking-up and jumping to the wrong conclusions: the results, however, can be just as fatal. Nobody is as harsh on the consequences of stupidity as the Coens.
I'm not crazy about George Clooney doing comedy, it seems to me he relies too much on mugging and pulling `funny' faces; apart from him, however, the performances are uniformly excellent. John Malkovich is wonderfully irascible and Tilda Swinton splendidly unpleasant as Mr and Mrs Cox (not a name, you feel, that was chosen by accident).... Read more ›
So how do they follow up the commercial and artistic success of `No Country`? With a film about a bunch of selfish, bungling middle-aged losers making a mess of their and everybody else's lives, that's how. If there's a common theme to the Coens films' then it's `nobody knows anything', and never was that truer than here. This is their take on the spy genre, the `Bourne' films and others of that ilk; but instead of being full of smart, dangerous killers there's just a bunch of useless idiots constantly cocking-up and jumping to the wrong conclusions: the results, however, can be just as fatal. Nobody is as harsh on the consequences of stupidity as the Coens.
I'm not crazy about George Clooney doing comedy, it seems to me he relies too much on mugging and pulling `funny' faces; apart from him, however, the performances are uniformly excellent. John Malkovich is wonderfully irascible and Tilda Swinton splendidly unpleasant as Mr and Mrs Cox (not a name, you feel, that was chosen by accident).... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By katy
Format:DVD
Are some of you serious giving this film a bad review there something wrong with you going far into detail about the quality of the picture serious get a life this is one of the funniest films ever. Some people really annoy me with there stupid comments
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I laughed and laughed as I looked on in mixed horror and amusement. Brad Pitt puts in a bravura performance of outstanding cluelessness.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By karen
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
one of my favorite fgilms of all time
clooney and pitt playing out of characters
a really funny dark film
clooney and pitt playing out of characters
a really funny dark film
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By zargb5
Format:DVD
The Coen Bros show that they are still on form with this absurdist paranoid comedy.
If you want an antidote to conspiracy theory wackos,the slick world of 24" or "enemy of the state" you have to watch this.
Its a film about a bunch of middle aged crisis "lost" numbnuts making a hash of life, done only the way the Coen Bros can do it. Forget the bad reviews this is a howl, i can only think that some people are lacking an "irony" gene or something.
If you want an antidote to conspiracy theory wackos,the slick world of 24" or "enemy of the state" you have to watch this.
Its a film about a bunch of middle aged crisis "lost" numbnuts making a hash of life, done only the way the Coen Bros can do it. Forget the bad reviews this is a howl, i can only think that some people are lacking an "irony" gene or something.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Saw this movie and thought it was brilliant. I thought everyone would love it.... then you read the reviews. It is idiosyncratic, as you'd expect from the directors, but it is engaging with some genuinely jaw-dropping moments. It's sweetness, and it is a sweet film, comes from a total disrespect for everything; for reputations, for pompousity, for stupidity, for certainties. And this is a world choking with reputation, pompousity, plain stupidity and certainty.
If you don't like black comedies, then don't buy it. If you do buy it, expect the unexpected. Never thought I'd see George Clooney attacking a (large) sex aid with a sledge hammer. Nor seeing Brad Pitt......
If you don't like black comedies, then don't buy it. If you do buy it, expect the unexpected. Never thought I'd see George Clooney attacking a (large) sex aid with a sledge hammer. Nor seeing Brad Pitt......
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Síog
Format:DVD
I was in the right mood to enjoy this quirkily humouorous film. It's a little dark too, as I've come to expect with the Coens, but the whole thing works well - the humour and the darker elements are balanced perfectly.
Basically, it concerns the bizarrely ensuing drama after an insecure, ditzy gym instructor, who's colleague (played hilariously by Brad Pitt), comes across the "memoirs" of a government agent, played in a perfectly captured study of an out of control, angry male, by John Malkovich. Other characters include a lonely gym manager played (brilliantly, all the acting is superb), by Richard Jenkins, a treasury employee played by George Clooney, and an icy doctor played by Tilda Swinton.
Great stuff, funny and well-plotted, in a bizarre kindof way.
Basically, it concerns the bizarrely ensuing drama after an insecure, ditzy gym instructor, who's colleague (played hilariously by Brad Pitt), comes across the "memoirs" of a government agent, played in a perfectly captured study of an out of control, angry male, by John Malkovich. Other characters include a lonely gym manager played (brilliantly, all the acting is superb), by Richard Jenkins, a treasury employee played by George Clooney, and an icy doctor played by Tilda Swinton.
Great stuff, funny and well-plotted, in a bizarre kindof way.
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3.1 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Bad
i ordered this film, cos my girl wanted to see it. It was better than I thought it would be. happily surprised.
Published 9 days ago by Mr. J. huie
1.0 out of 5 stars
Just didn't get the humour
This film had been recommended to me by a friend who thought it was really funny. Given the stellar cast, I thought it had great potential. I was seriously disappointed. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Miss R. A. Spicer
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent view.
This is a very good film. The plot is excellent, leading you in one direction of light hearted comedy, then developing into a more sinister and dark plot, tempered with black... Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. A. Sinclair
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligence is only their job
Personally, I'm not such a huge fan of films by the Coen brothers; but it's hard to deny that each time they make a film, it's a different one. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lord Anon
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very solid 3 stars
There is a perfect way to get the most from Burn After Reading. Find 90 minutes when you're at a loose end, watch the film, never think about it again. Read more
Published 3 months ago by N. Baseley
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 to recommend
Just recommended this yesterday as a really well crafted, unexpected, deliciously dark film and having loved Fargo am a fan. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jonnyspread
3.0 out of 5 stars
ok
making people write long reviews on ggod they receive is in my opinion expecting a lot. surely just a simple word comment is enough??
Published 4 months ago by Ms. Julie A. Renyard
3.0 out of 5 stars
Loved the cast - but no
The cast and Cohen Bros. offered the reason to buy this, and its humorous - but overall not stellar. Its average.
Published 5 months ago by Ross Whitehead
5.0 out of 5 stars
x-mas present
for a colleague - will know after Christmas whether she liked it but I loved it and thought it was hilarious when I first saw it.
Published 5 months ago by ULM
3.0 out of 5 stars
a coen conspiracy
This movie repeatedly comes close to descending into utter farce and is pulled back from the brink by a little twist or turn. Read more
Published 11 months ago by thetruthshallsetyefree
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