“Sorry, I don't happen to know my account number because unfortunately I don't sit around all day trying to memorize the fucking numbers!”
The Coen’s newest work has the audience laughing, then scratching their heads.
After the success of No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers released a new film – Burn After Reading. The previews and anticipation gave the film a lot of hype, so, I was eager to see it. The film revolves around multiple intertwining storylines, all of which relate to the central character, Osbourne Cox, played by John Malkovich. Cox, a CIA agent with a drinking problem, loses a disk containing his memoirs, and they are subsequently held hostage. The A-List cast includes Coen favourites Frances McDormand and George Clooney, as well as Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton.
First, I must express how difficult it was for me to write this review. I had very mixed feelings for this film – I really enjoyed it when I saw it, but couldn’t quite justify why I enjoyed it. The film, unlike the message-laden Coen films No Country and Fargo, this one really doesn’t have any major themes. It lightly touches on internet dating, plastic surgery, and the dodgy nature of the CIA, but all of them are touched very lightheartedly. This film was clearly not a film that is supposed to make the audience think ‘what’. However, its sheer absurdity makes the audience think ‘why’. I use the word ‘absurdity’ not in a negative way – the film was absurd, but it enhanced its comic value. The film also makes very excessive use of dramatic irony to the point where the viewer could easily forget what characters know what – it was hard for me to keep up. Despite this never-ending chain of absurdity ad nauseam, the film had me rolling in the aisles for minutes on end.
Once again, the Coen Brothers succeed in orchestrating a stellar cast. The standout, however, was easily John Malkovich. I have now come to notice that Malkovich shares the same kind of comic value as Joe Pesci, in that every time an obscenity comes out of his mouth, no matter the context, it is funny. I also enjoyed how the film poked fun at George Clooney – Clooney’s frequent tough lawyer persona was torn apart in this film – with a sexual apparatus that you have to see to believe.
This film was perfectly ironic. Despite the great use of irony, it was excessive, and I think it subtracted from the overall value and impact the film could have had. On top of this, the film lacked a clear a strong message, and, although it probably wasn’t intended to have one, by my standards this film cannot make my ‘A’ list. I think, however, the reviews in The Flat Hat and The Daily Press were a little harsh – and because the film was perfect in every other way I give this film a B+.
