Review of Burn After Reading (2008) by Doctor S — 18 Apr 2018
Remember a time you told a joke that you thought was hilarious only to be met with a smattering of polite chuckles? That's 'Burn After Reading'. The premise of a fitness club worker with low self-esteem and her meathead associate trying to sell what they believe are top secret documents to the Russians in order to pay for her boob job looks promising on paper, but too much goes wrong in the translation the film.
The Coens have never had a bigger star cast (Brad Pitt George Clooney Francis McDormand John Malkovich Tilda Swinton Richard Jenkins JK Simmons and even David "Sledge Hammer" Rasche) to work with.
Clooney always gets the Coens' style, Pitt is absolutely riotous and the best thing about the movie, Swinton is a perfect icy bitch, but McDormand strangely searches for a tone and Malkovich goes all wrong as he doesn't seem to realize he's in a comedy.
The film's final wrapup falls especially flat.
This review of Burn After Reading (2008) was written by Doctor S on 18 Apr 2018.
Burn After Reading has generally received positive reviews.
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