BURN AFTER READING (MA15+)

Director:
The Coen Brothers

Starring:
George Clooney
Brad Pitt
Tilda Swinton

Plot Summary:
George Clooney plays a hired killer in this spy caper about a CIA agent who loses the disc of the book he is writing in which he tells all about the agency's secret dealings. Based on former CIA director Stansfield's 2005 non-fiction tome "Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directores, and Secret Intelligence".

Genre:
Comedy

Duration:
96 Minutes

Origin:
U.S.A.

Language:
English

Reviews:

It begins as a typical spy story, down to the zoom from outer space to CIA HQ in Langley and digitally keyed opening credits, but Burn After Reading soon blossoms into a veritable garden of genres, all blooming nicely beside each other, intertwining and cross pollinating to produce weird (but not grotesque) and wonderful new strains. There is satire aplenty, comedy, relationships, and plain crazy fun as intelligence gathering characters (intelligence is relative here) come face to face (or something) with bumbling amateur blackmailers.

The film has a freewheeling quality about it, thanks to the Coens’ wacky screenplay and the perfect cast for it. George Clooney is smarmy and insincere but entirely likeable as he squirms his way through an affair with ice princess Katie (Tilda Swinton); Brad Pitt delivers a vacuous Chad that’s as good as David Wenham’s outrageous turn as the low life Johnny The Spit, in Gettin’ Square; Frances McDormand is a firecracker as Linda, who is desperate for a face lift, boob job, tummy tuck, bum lift and arm-flab cut; John Malkovich is over the top as the over the top ex-CIA agent with a grudge; and by contrast to them all, Richard Jenkins is marvellously minimalist as the gym manager with a secret crush on Linda.

Also useful is J.K Simmons (J. Jonah James in Spider-Man, BR in Thank You for Smoking, among many credits) as the CIA Superior who is briefed by an underling (David Rasche, excellent) on the improbable, unlikely, incomprehensible and ridiculous scenario that is causing havoc in the ranks. The writing and performance in these two scenes is delicious and provides the key to the film’s most serious ambitions: to entertain us every second of its running time.

-Andrew L. Urban

Trailer: