The nasty man hit me!!
I can’t really say I was disappointed by ‘Burn After Reading’ because I didn’t expect it would be much good.
Strange to say this when the only previous Coen Brothers movie I have roundly disliked is their misguided remake of ‘The Ladykillers’. But when I saw the all star cast they’d assembled my heart sank.
On paper, the quirky plot linking the worlds of personal fitness, mid life crisis and the CIA is promising. But casting Hollywood heartthrobs Pitt and Clooney as nerds just doesn’t convince. It takes more than a goofy haircut (Pitt) or an unflattering beard (Clooney) to make us see these actors differently.
The most curious thing is that the script lacks the Coen’s usual sharpness. For example, Tilda Swinton plays a paediatrician who terrorises her child patients but we only see one scene near the end of the movie of her in this work situation. The comic potential is by then wholly lost. Similarly, John Malkovich is wasted – we know that he does anger very well but when practically every seen has him in rant mode it reduces the impact considerably.
The movie looks to me like it was put together as some light relief after the intensity of ‘No Country For Old Men’ and was undoubtedly more fun to make than it is to watch.
I sincerely hope that that is just a blip in the Coens illustrious catalogue and that they bounce back with a vehicle more worthy of their considerable talents next time around.
