Review of Burn After Reading (2008) by Jonathanc — 20 Sep 2008

I gave this movie a mark for every scene that made me laugh. One for the two scenes of the director of the CIA's bewilderment at the events of the film, and one more for Brad Pitt's attempt at trying to out-spy John Malkovitch.

This movie is billed as a comedy. It fails simply because the audience hardly ever laughed. It doesn't even qualify as a black comedy, simply because it's not black enough. There may very well be big messages in here, but they are not well expressed.

If there is a message, it is purely expository, something like "Middle-aged America is in a crisis, where the only meanings to be found are shallow, all relationships are broken and nobody knows what is going on.

" But there is no analysis of this idea, or any attempt at a meaningful solution. So as a drama, there is nothing here; there is no lesson to be learned. This movie is not funny, and it is not particularly dramatic.

Regardless of what you're looking for, you should probably see something else.