“Burn After Reading,” the newest film directed by Ethan and Joel Cohen, is simply put-not their best work.
The Cohen brothers are four-time Academy Award-winning American filmmakers. Though I doubt that “Burn After Reading” will bring them their fifth Academy Award, it did have some strong points.
By Chelsea Oliver
Sports Editor
“Burn After Reading,” the newest film directed by Ethan and Joel Cohen, is simply put-not their best work.
The Cohen brothers are four-time Academy Award-winning American filmmakers. Though I doubt that “Burn After Reading” will bring them their fifth Academy Award, it did have some strong points.
The start of the action is with the dissmissal of a CIA analyst, Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), at the agency’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters on account of his “drinking problem.” He was never a security risk before, but he rapidly becomes one when he storms off to spend time with his college friends-to drink and write his memoirs.
His vicious doctor wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), is not amused by this turn of events, although she is already comforting herself with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a federal marshal, married to a successful children’s book author (Elizabeth Marvel).
Meanwhile, in another part of town, at the Hardbodies Fitness Center, a trio of employees are living out their obscure and humdrum lives: the, dumb but adorable trainer, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), Ted, the gym manager (Richard Jenkins) and an office drone, Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) find a CD-ROM containing a draft of Cox’s memoirs that was accidentally left on the floor of the locker room; and while thinking that the disk is much more important than it is, the lives of these harmless workers become fatally entangled with the political, financial and sexual affairs of the bed-hopping Georgetown elite.
And sorry to say, but that is about all I understood of “Burn After Reading.” Though the plot seems like it would be a quality and hilarious film, it does not play out as so on the screen, and many times I found myself asking, “what in the world is going on.” The movie that is advertized as “the Clooney and Pitt movie” only has the two meet once face-to-face in what you could say is an explosive, yet awkward scene.
Although I guess if you’re in to that whole, quirky spy movie, with a lot of rude and coarse language, that is actually pretty lame, but sprinkled with a couple good-looking men, then go see “Burn After Reading” already! If not, than save yourself the $6.50 (Carmike Cinemas lowered their prices to compete with internet movie sales) and wait for a quality movie to come to theaters.