Wow. What did i just watch?.
Burn after Reading is the latest offering from the Coen Brothers, who's No Country for Old Men was one of the best films of 2007.
The plot (if you can call it that) centers around two employees of a gym (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a CD with the most irrelevant CIA documents and try to blackmail John Malkovich into giving them money to get it back. This is where the plot ends, because this isnt really a film with a relevant plot, its just a maguffin for all these amazing actors to play off each other and to present one of the biggest groups of morons that cinema has ever seen.
Its hard to put this movie into a genre, up until the 2/3 mark of the film i was sure this was a comedy, and i did laugh out loud at many parts of this film (The scene with Brad Pitt and John Malkovich is inspired). The last third of the film however takes a bit of a sharp turn towards a drama/thriller, but your still laughing at some of the situations these people get themselves into. I have to say that after the film was over i kinda hated myself for laughing at some of the stuff in that last half hour, not because it wasn't funny (it was), but because i didn't know if it was supposed to be funny, i was quite torn.
I then remembered that there were moments in No Country for Old Men that made me feel the same, and it also happened with The Big Lebowski. It suddenly hit me that this is what the Coens do, to fuck around with their audience. After realising this, i didnt hate myself as much.
This is a great film, not one of the Coens best, but much better than most of the shit that passes as film these days. Just dont go into the film expecting a plot or a purpose.
***1/2
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