This week I dragged my son to see Burn After Reading which is, to be frank, what I wish the producers did to the script before moving on with their lives.
The latest movie from the famed Coen Brothers is a total snore. There are some blatant jokes along the way and the story itself has a few moments of interest but overall it just doesn’t work. In fact, the movie seems to draw great pleasure in pointing out that the entire affair makes no sense at all and that we, the viewers, are supposed to get that.
Frances McDormand does her typical great job with the material at hand. Brad Pitt is so idiotic that his character is entirely unbelievable. It’s as if the producers forgot that we liked the realism of the characters in Fargo. George Clooney does a decent job but his jittery style mainly distracts. There’s also a well done performance from always-reliable John Malkovich. The last main character is acted by Tilda Swinton who plays Malkovich’s wife and, most unbelievably, Clooney’s lover. Sorry Tilda but that dog just won’t hunt and neither does most of this movie.
