{"id":1222,"date":"2008-10-12T22:38:11","date_gmt":"2008-10-13T02:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2022-10-17T15:50:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:50:58","slug":"burn-after-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/burn-after-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coen Brothers confound expectations, as usual, with Burn After Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although every Coen Brothers film is unmistakably theirs alone (can the Auteur Theory<\/a> apply to more than one person at once?), Joel and Ethan have a reputation for rarely making the films audiences want or expect from them at any given time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"George
Clooney and McDormand give this movie two thumbs up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After Fargo<\/em>, when everybody wanted another snowy midwestern noir, Joel and Ethan gave the world The Big Lebowski<\/em><\/a> instead. After a recent string of genre experiments like the Hepburn & Tracy-esque romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty<\/a><\/em> and a remake of Ealing comedy The Ladykillers<\/em>, the Coens surprised everybody yet again with the dead-serious nailbiter No Country for Old Men<\/em>. And, perhaps because they just can’t help themselves, they give us whiplash all over again with Burn After Reading<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
John Malkovich being John Malkovich.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ostensibly another caper comedy like The Big Lebowsi<\/em>, Burn After Reading<\/em> is actually more amusing than hilarious. The characters are a peculiar kind of stupid common in Coen films: unaware of their limitations, yet maniacally driven. But the mischievous Coens undermine the light entertainment value of the film by punctuating the convoluted noirish plot and seemingly light tone with scenes of extreme violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Brad
Brad Pitt is in possession of, as they say in movies like this, certain documents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the time, The Big Lebowski<\/em> featured many of the Coens’ repertory players (John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro). In contrast, Burn After Reading<\/em> sports the marquee names Clooney and Pitt, perhaps giving it more attention than it can hold. But its biggest hindrance to joining the ranks of the best of the Coen Brothers is that it lacks a highly memorable (and quotable) character like H.I., Marge, or The Dude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although every Coen Brothers film is unmistakably theirs alone (can the Auteur Theory apply to more than one person at once?), Joel and Ethan have a reputation for rarely making the films audiences want or expect from them at any given time. After Fargo, when everybody wanted another snowy midwestern noir, Joel and Ethan gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[140,232,226,77,230,234,84,227,233,141],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-brad-pitt","tag-caper","tag-coen-brothers","tag-comedy","tag-ethan-coen","tag-francis-mcdormand","tag-george-clooney","tag-joel-coen","tag-john-malcovich","tag-tilda-swinton"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/burn-after-reading-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-jI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5798,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-chemistry-only-goes-one-way-in-the-coen-brothers-intolerable-cruelty\/","url_meta":{"origin":1222,"position":0},"title":"The chemistry only goes one way in The Coen Brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Intolerable Cruelty is usually found at or near the bottom of Best-to-Worst films by the Coen Brothers: #15 of 15, by David Haglund for Slate#10 of 15, by Ann Hornaday for The Seattle Times#13 of 14, by Andrew Osborne for Nerve You get the idea. But Intolerable Cruelty is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Intolerable Cruelty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/intolerable-cruelty.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/intolerable-cruelty.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/intolerable-cruelty.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/intolerable-cruelty.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/intolerable-cruelty.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1212,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/big-lebowski\/","url_meta":{"origin":1222,"position":1},"title":"The Dude burns one on the way over in The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In 1998, when all the world wanted from Joel Coen and Ethan Coen was another Fargo, they got The Big Lebowski instead. The Coen Brothers recently repeated this trick by following up another masterpiece, No Country for Old Men, with the happy-go-lucky Burn After Reading. This blog wonders if this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Big Lebowski","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/big-lebowski-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/big-lebowski-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/big-lebowski-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/big-lebowski-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/big-lebowski-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":606,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-8-best-movies-i-saw-in-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":1222,"position":2},"title":"The 8 Best Movies I Saw in 2007","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Followers of this blog (a statistic which I believe can be plotted on an arc approaching zero) may have noticed an accumulation of digital dust this past year. Indeed, I watched my own blog drop off the first page of Google results for my own name. Who's feeling lucky? A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Orphanage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":779,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":1222,"position":3},"title":"Sidney Lumet shows us how it’s done in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a powerful, electric return to form for the 83 year-old Sidney Lumet, director of such canonical classics as 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Network, and, uh, The Wiz? Kelly Masterson's screenplay tells the high-tension tale of a pair of wholly doomed brothers as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/before-the-devil-knows-youre-dead-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":716,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/michael-clayton\/","url_meta":{"origin":1222,"position":4},"title":"Michael Clayton confronts Shiva the God of Death","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Clayton is a that rare thing: an intelligent, fictional thriller for grownups. Like any self-respecting Thriller for Grownups, it's relentlessly grim in tone, the chronology is fractured, and a high level of detail demands your attention. It doesn't approach impenetrability like Syriana, but it unfortunately doesn't engage the brain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Michael Clayton","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/michael-clayton-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/michael-clayton-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/michael-clayton-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/michael-clayton-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/michael-clayton-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1464,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/solaris\/","url_meta":{"origin":1222,"position":5},"title":"Death Has No Dominion in Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As a huge title card reads immediately at the end of the film, Solaris was \"written for the screen and directed by Steven Soderbergh.\" I am a big admirer, but that seemed a bit egotistical even to me. Perhaps an overenthusiastic end-credits designer is to blame? 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