The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, have returned to creating dark, comedic mayhem after their brilliant rendering of No Country for Old Men. Using a cast of superstar actors – George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton – these just-out-of-the-mainstream moviemakers have come up a self-penned film guaranteed to polarize viewers. Burn After Reading is savage and intense. Whether it is also funny depends on one’s sense of humour.
Tight plotting propels the movie through the interlocked lives of the characters. CIA analyst Osbourne Cox (Malkovich) resigns in anger to pen his explosive memoirs. His ‘ice maiden’ wife (chillingly played by Swinton) Katie, is soon seen to be having an affair with Harry Pfarrer, a womanising federal marshall (George Clooney is brilliant in the role, memorable in conveying Pfarrer’s growing paranoia). Enter Linda Litzke (wonderfully played by McDormand), a determined, rather dimwitted gym employee who needs money for plastic surgery to catch a better class of man, and her buffoonish coworker, fitness trainer Chad, hilariously rendered by Brad Pitt. When Linda and Chad find a disk containing Osbourne’s memoirs, they go the blackmail route and the film accelerates.
None of the characters is remotely lovable and the film’s humour is the scorching type that mocks without mercy, so I suspect some viewers will recoil. Not me – I can still raise a subversive chuckle when I recall the tension that builds up with Harry building a mysterious contraption in his basement and the hilarity of its unveiling. The script segues effortlessly between the storylines and the dialogue is rich with bite and fun. And I found the underlying anti-establishment message echoing much older films, perhaps even Dr. Strangelove. Unlike many comedies, post-film reflection enriches Burn After Reading. Highly recommended.