Burn After Reading

A CIA employee with a level 3 clearance called Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is married to an extremely painful doctor called Katie (Tilda Swinton). All Katie does 24 x 7 is question Osbourne’s existence and demean him by the minute. Also, she is having an affair with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) who is a US Marshall / Treasury Agent. Harry is in turn married to Sandy (Elizabeth Marvel) who is a hugely successful children’s book author. Sandy and Katie cannot see eye to eye although the families are supposed to be friends. They just hate each other – and this without knowing about the affair – wonder what would happen then.

When Osbourne gets pushed to a desk job, he gets quite peeved and decides to quit the CIA much to Katie’s chagrin. But he also starts working on his memoir. A book that will expose some of the not so pleasant secrets of the CIA – or so Osbourne believes. In between all of this, a CD with the memoir finds its way into the hands of Gym Trainer Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) who starts believing that he can make a quick buck by blackmailing Osbourne. His partner in crime – Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) who wants to get some plastic surgery done which will set her back by quite a bit and is not covered by insurance.

Burn After Reading is a rip roaring hilarious comedy if you like the dark variety. It is not in your face slapstick or filled with smart one liners. It is just the entire story and situation that ensures that you cannot help but find it hilarious. Honestly, I could have avoided giving you guys a spoiler by narrating the broad outline but believe me, this was a difficult review to write. I couldn’t figure out where to start. Such is the layered nature of the movie – atypical of the Coen brothers.

The brothers seem to have kind of mastered the art of building up the tempo of a movie gradually, inch by inch, beat by beat through a 100 minutes. Very few who can do that. There are movie makers who can fluctuate between the fast and slow well and there are movie makers who can maintain a consistent pace and yet remain totally intense. And there are the brothers who have their own brand of movie making which is building the tempo from the extremely slow to the absolutely frenetic. Burn After Reading is no different and therefore thoroughly enjoyable.

That Brad Pitt is a phenomenal actor and not just eye candy is an aspect that hasn’t really been acknowledged by too many people. Unlike George Clooney. Both of them are superb here. But it is John Malkovich who takes the cake with his absolutely acidic brand of acting. And brilliant performances from Tilda Swinton & Frances McDormand is just the icing. You will like BAR only if u like Dark Comedy. Else avoid it. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1155268889/