Burn After Reading

There’s little doubt that Burn After Reading ultimately fits quite comfortably within the Coen brothers’ various comedic endeavors, as the movie, like such predecessors as Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, relies primarily on the overtly quirky characters to hold the viewer’s interest and propel the proceedings forward. But given the inclusion of as thin a storyline as one could possibly imagine, it’s hard to deny that the movie is only able to capture one’s attention in fits and starts. The convoluted plot, which essentially revolves around the efforts of several characters (including George Clooney’s Harry, Frances McDormand’s Linda, and Brad Pitt’s Chad) to track down the missing memoirs of a disgruntled CIA analyst (John Malkovich’s Osborne Cox), has admittedly been adorned with a number of individually compelling moments, yet the Coens’ penchant for moving briskly from one thread to the next ensures that it does become increasingly difficult to work up any enthusiasm for the film’s myriad of tangents. That being said, it’s impossible to deny the effectiveness of the various performances – with Clooney, Pitt, and McDormand effortlessly elevating Burn After Reading with their uniformly strong (and downright goofy) work. Yet it’s inevitably J.K. Simmons, cast in what essentially amounts to a cameo role, who establishes himself as the film’s secret weapon, as the actor offers up a performance that proves to be the most gratifying and flat-out entertaining aspect within the proceedings. It’s small, isolated elements like that that generally assure Burn After Reading‘s mild success, though it’s clear that the movie will have a far more positive effect on fans of the filmmaking siblings.

**1/2 out of ****