Thursday, September 18th 2008

By medina abelkader

     With an explosive cast and a slightly neurotic plot, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to assume that Burn After Reading would contain all the ingredients of a box office success. Directed by the coveted Coen Brothers, Burn After Reading follows the story of a couple of gym employees who stumble upon the beginning stages of an ex-intelligence agent’s memoir, and interpret its content to be of slightly more epic importance than it is. With the hopes of receiving cash compensation for their discovery, the two track down the agent and unknowingly end up in the centre of a thickening commotion loaded with adultery and government corruption.

     The film brought along with it some high expectations, but fell horribly short on many accounts. Never reaching any definite climax, the plot seems to stumble along aimlessly without ever really gaining momentum, leaving most Coen lovers reaching for a cigarette on the nightstand. The Coens’ set the bar high with their dark, nihilistic thriller No Country For Old Men (2007) which was a huge success at the box office as well as at the Oscars (it took home four of them), subsequently cranking hopes high for their upcoming projects. Anticipation was high for Burn After Reading, and although the brothers have seen some success with this type of screwball comedy in the past with films like The Big Lebowski (1998) and O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000), this film seems to fall short of expectations.

     The loaded cast includes Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malcovich and Frances McDormand, all of which are relatively successful in their individual roles, but for the most part lack the chemistry to make the combination entertaining. This was obvious when some points in the film became a kind of awkward ping-pong match, where the characters clumsily flung lines back and forth before ducking out of the scene. McDormand and Pitt, who play the knuckleheaded gym employees, do a good job of playing the shallow, dimwitted characters that was intended, but are not a very effective duo on-screen. The same can be said for McDormand and Clooney, whose relationship was difficult to understand, aside from his obviously insatiable appetite for sex with women who are not his wife. Malcovich, however, was well cast in his role as intelligence analyst, and his uncontrollable bouts of rage add just enough charge to otherwise lackluster, sloppy acting.

     The trailer is the kind that hits on all the funny bits in the film that do not really improve when they are in context, leaving behind only the leftover pieces of twisty plotline that was intended to be ironic and witty but was mostly irritating instead. It would seem that the Coen brothers were trying to play on the absurdities of the American intelligence system, the all but undetectable social hierarchies and the fact that everyone is screwing around on each other, but did so with such mediocre one-liners that were funny in the trailer, but almost embarrassingly un-funny the second time. 

     It could have been the abundance of empty seats at Westdale Theatre that gave off this impression, but the few movie-goers that did see Burn After Reading seemed to be scarcely amused. While there were some slightly witty moments, very few earned the laughs that the Coen Brothers intended. Still, it is not difficult to appreciate what they were trying to do, and they had all the right tools to see it through; a strong, reputable cast, a novel concept, obvious skill in writing, directing and producing. Maybe the Coen brothers knew they could not top No Country For Old Men and responded accordingly with an intentionally abominable film, or maybe they simply slipped up – either way, this one can do without watching.

Tags: Burn After Reading, Movie, Review