Another winner for the Coens (Burn After Reading (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Burn After Reading (DVD)
Date:	20/07/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, great actors

Disadvantages: The dry, idiosyncratic humour is an acquired taste

The Coen Brothers are absolutely an acquired taste - much like Marmite, you either love them or you hate them, quite simply. Burn After Reading is unlikely to win the Coens any new fans, but for the initiated, this is another fun farce with some superb performances and the Coens' typically offbeat sense of humour.

Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is a retired CIA analyst who has penned his memoirs, only to have them unceremoniously stolen by Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), two gym employees who find it and then decide to return the disc to Cox if he pays them. Meanwhile, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a Treasury agent, is paranoid that people are following him, and soon enough, all of these strands come crashing together in a hilarious and gloriously demented affray with double crosses, dead bodies, and even more nefarious things that I simply can't spoil (a rather perverse contraption built by George Clooney's character).

It's undeniably the cast that makes this such a treat - Brad Pitt in particular shines in a type of role you've certainly never seen him in before, as a geeky gym instructor. Frances McDormand is wonderful again as a gormless woman looking for money to fund her cosmetic surgery, Malkovich is hilariously frenzied as the foul-mouthed, foul-tempered CIA agent, and Clooney's face when he thinks he's being followed is a thing of hilarious beauty. Also notable is J.K. Simmons in a brief appearance as a CIA Director - his utter bemusement at the situation's end result is something of dry comic genius.

The Coen Brothers fire on all cylinders with a work that combines their trademark dark, dry, and idiosyncratic humour with exceptional performances from a large ensemble cast.

Summary: Not for everyone, but a winner for Coen fans