Burn After Reading
Not the most current movie, I know, but I’m playing catch up after the past six months of ignoring my NetFlix queue. Has anyone else seen this? I’m curious of what you thought. My short review after the figurative jump.
Heidi and I have had conversations in the past about what we look for in movies. I’ve made some recommendations that she ended up hating and I couldn’t understand why she might have disliked them. Turns out, Heidi needs a likable character; someone she can root for. I had to text her immediately after the movie was over and warn her to never see it because there isn’t a single decent person in this entire thing. Well, maybe two, but they’re so dumb and hopeless, you can just barely muster the effort.
Now, for Heidi, this is an unforgivable sin. But for me? Comedy gold. There were times I felt like the movie wasn’t really going anywhere and I was lost as why anyone was doing any of the awful things they were doing. But every actor was playing their roles so well, it was easy to forget about all that and just enjoy watching them do what they do.
And honestly, the entire movie is worthwhile if not solely for CIA bossman J. K. Simmons’ mid-plot and final wrap-ups in which, as Ebert put it, “every line is a punch line.”
Why I’m even bothering to write about it is the simple fact that when the movie’s short hour and a half running length had passed, I was sort of “yeah, not the Coens’ best, but fun,” — and yet, here I am still thinking about all the little parts that cracked me up. Could this be another Big Lebowski where I find myself falling it love with it the more I watch it?
Comments
Yeah, that movie just hits you like a ton of bricks. I was advertised heavily as a comedy that was kinda dark. But that fucker was a damn black comedy. Just for that one moment with Brad Pitt where he give that stupid grin and then something happened. I had to rewind that and rewatch it about ten times.
The only seemingly likable character in the whole thing would probably have to be Richard Jenkins, but he’s such a pathetic putz that it never sticks. But I really liked it. Like you said: “yeah, not the Coens’ best, but fun.”
I honestly didn’t care about the movie until the final thought. That final summary, as you said, pretty much saved the movie for me, or made it seem worthwhile. I didn’t think it was nearly as good as other Coen movies, but I’m curious to see it again myself.
I didn’t really like O Brother Where Art Thou? all that much the first time, but these days I consider it absolutely perfect and completely watchable once a day… though I rarely watch it anymore.
In similar overdue review, I just watched Natural Born Killers for the first time (weird, I know) over the weekend. I loved it. Tommy Lee Jones as the warden was pretty much the adult version of Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face in Batman Forever.
We watched this a couple of weeks ago and liked it for the same reasons you listed. I’m a Coen brothers fan but far from a fanboy. But this was quick, clever, and funny and as you pointed out with no likable characters (those are my favorite kinds of movies…since I’m a misanthrope I like to see movies reflect my own world view).
And JK Simmons is at this point my favorite character actor. Dude is so good in everything.
I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was hilariously senseless and like a new form of slapstick.
this is one of those times where i watch a movie, and when it wrapped up i found myself unsure of wether or not i liked it.
I liked it a lot, but it did trail off after the “Very Surprising Scene”.
Clooney was great too, and the JK Simmons scenes were excellent.
John, you’re right. I wasn’t a big fan, but I still managed to enjoy it despite the fact that I couldn’t find myself rooting for anyone. Brad Pitt was enjoyable as a complete fuck-up dumbass, and the scene where he gets punched in the face by Malkovich made me laugh out loud. Also, I got your message while I was watching “Anatomy of a Murder” with Jimmy Stewart. Which I hated. Because they’re all scumbags.