Review of Burn After Reading (2008) by Tim D — 09 Jul 2012
While this has many of the typical Coen brother trademarks and characteristics, this is somewhat of a miss. Not for lack of script or acting, as Clooney, McDormand, Malkovich and Pitt are all quite good, displaying the typical quirkiness of a Coen brothers film.
Where it fails to me is its overall plot, and its vantage point. It just never seems to come together for me. Not enough time is spent with each character to make me route for any of them, or really care that deeply. As far as the vantage point I mentioned, you can see the entire debacle from the start, and therefore just watch the characters go through the motions as they discover what you have already known the whole time. These types of stories always work best when you're along for the ride, and the story is revealed to you as it is revealed to the characters (see 'The Big Lebowski', 'O Brother Where Art Thou', 'Fargo', etc).
Overall, its an interesting movie with interesting characters, but it just never materializes the way you would hope.
This review of Burn After Reading (2008) was written by Tim D on 09 Jul 2012.
Burn After Reading has generally received positive reviews.
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