Rated R

Written, produced and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Starring George Clooney, Francis McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swindon, Brad Pitt

Heidi’s Illustrious Rating: 4 (Recommended) *for those who enjoy Coen brothers’ movies

Word of Warning: After watching this movie, I ran into two bewildered women in the bathroom. They had just come out of “Burn After Reading” and it was obviously not the movie they had expected. They just couldn’t believe that George Clooney would take such a “ridiculous” role. Recognizing me from the theater they asked me what I thought. I said, “It was a Coen brothers’ movie.” They responded, “Who are the Coen brothers?”  Beware and be educated - this is a movie by the Coen brothers. There will be inexplicable bloody hilarity.

Watching a Coen brothers’ movie is like drinking a nice hoppy microbeer after a month of Bud Lite; it tastes so flavorful and so full of character. I don’t think this one is going to win any Oscars, but the Coen brothers have once again proved they can make a solidly funny, strangely violent, really good movie.

This movie takes place in Washington D.C. Body image obsessed, Internet dater Linda Litzke (Francas McDormand) and bubbly, bumbling Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) are employees at Hardbodies; the kind of gym that exists in every strip mall across America.

Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is an ex-CIA analyst in an unhappy marriage to Dr. Katie Cox (Tilda Swindon). The recently fired Cox is writing his memoirs, while his wife spends her time cheating on him with Harry Pfarrer (a bearded George Clooney). Pfarrer is also CIA (I think, this part was a little unclear).

The two very different worlds of the CIA and Hardbodies collide when a disk with what appears to be highly sensitive government documents appears in Hardbodies’ locker room. Litzke and Felderheim embark on an impromptu and dim-witted plan to turn the disk into a money making scheme.

The Coen brothers are masters at creating memorable onscreen characters and the characters always seem to be an exaggerations of a particular stereotype. Brad Pitt’s character (the gym guy who fanatically loves to work out) is by far the most memorable in the movie and the audience can’t wait for him to appear in a scene. If you’ve ever liked anything Brad Pitt’s done in the past, his performance in this movie will be worth the ticket price.

I have never been much of a fan of John Malkovich, but I thought he was superb in this role. McDormand and Swindon are two of my favorites actors and they never let me down. I got the distinct feeling the Coen brothers may have written many of the characters in this film with a specific actor in mind.

My only greivance with “Burn After Reading” is Clooney’s character, Harry Pfarrer. He really started to annoy me and about midway through the movie I started wishing he’d get killed off. I can’t put my finger on what exactly I didn’t like, but it was as if his appearance on screen caused a twitch in my eye and it just continued to get worse and worse. Pfarrer is not a good man and in fact, most of the characters in this movie are rather unpleasant in some way or another. Tilda Swindon actually said, “[Burn After Reading] is a kind of monster caper movie. All of us are monsters — like, true monsters. It’s ridiculous.’” (Source)

For fans of the Coen brothers, this is a must-see. Others may find the movie a bit quirky, but if you go in with an open mind and ability to laugh you may run right out and rent all those Coen brothers’ movies you’ve missed.