Burn After Reading- Film Review

"The Best Comedy of 2008," is how The Coen Brother's film 'Burn After Reading' has been described as. It follows the antics of incompetent gym workers  Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) who find some government documents and try to blackmail higher government workers without realizing they are way over their heads. With help from the story and directing by Joel & Ethan Coen the film triumphs in being a very smart, quirky comedy.

The Story is of Osbourne Cox (who is portrayed brilliantly by John Malkovich) who after quitting his job in the CIA decides to start write a memoir. When his wife begins to seek a divorce as she is having an affair with Treasury agent Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) and copies his personal files on a CD and giving it to her lawyer who ends up giving it to his assistant. Chad & Linda end up finding the CD and attempt to blackmail Osbourne. At the meeting Osbourne realizes its just his memoirs and punches Chad in the nose (See above). Their antics after this continue including attempting to sell the memoirs to the Russian embassy. Linda starts to date Harry which completes the circle and connects almost all the characters leading to a hilarious conclusion in the film.

Every character is perfectly formed to each be hilarious in their own way. Brad Pitt plays the most obviously funny and comical character always dancing with his headphones in and arriving to a potentially fatal meeting in a suit on his bicycle. It comes across very well that whil Pitt filmed this he didn't take himself seriously. Some people may think that Frances McDormand as one of the stars of the film may be unfair as she's married to half of the directing team. But she does incredibly well at playing a very a self obsessed  Linda. Her character dreams of a perfect life with a perfect man and totally believes that the way to get this is to have multiple plastic surgeries. This becomes an ongoing theme throughout the film and ends up being the motive for her attempted blackmail. Malkovich plays his perfect part as well as he usually does as the shouty angry powerful man who looks down on others. He has some great bits of dialogue including a very funny talk on the phone with Chad & Linda acting as the moment when they realise they are in over their head.


The story and charcters work in tandem very well to make this a very clever film full of laughs. I suggest this to anyone who loves a laugh but not something to obvious. 


8/10

Tips- If you want something fun for a party or gathering etc. get something else.