Here´s a prediction for you: Brad Pitt will get an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor this year. In the latest flick from Oscar winners Joel and Ethan Coen (last year´s "No Country for Old Men"), Pitt plays Chad Feldheimer, a dimwitted, overly enthusiastic gym trainer. He and fellow trainer Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand in a wonderfully insecure performance) run across a CD with top secret government information. Well, at least they assume it´s top secret government information. These two youth obsessed wackadoos find a name (Osborne Cox, for those keeping score) and try to blackmail the ex-government analyst. And that´s not even half the story.
What makes "Burn After Reading" so deliciously entertaining is the way each of the A-list actors (Pitt, Swinton, John Malkovish, McDormand and George Clooney) inhabit their roles so completely, with so much gusto they never come across as characters in a movie. These are people we could conceivably see on the street, with all accompanying foibles and eccentricities. Take Pitt, for example. Normally a dramatic actor, here he morphs into a man child, snapping gum, rocking out to his iPod and obsessed with his body. Pitt doesn´t need to utter a word to completely form the character in front of our eyes.
Much the same can be said for the rest of the cast. Simply by looking at them, we know their personalities, which helps the Coen brothers to no end in creating the narrative. The script needn´t bother with introducing us them. Instead, it can dive right into the plot. (And it´s a dumb plot at that, filled with infidelity, moronic halfwits and incompetent government officials.) Just when that plot can´t possibly get any more topsy turvy-don´t worry, no spoilers-the Coen´s keep a rein on the action, making sure it doesn´t get out of hand for the audience.
In the spirit of disclosure, this isn´t the usual run of the mill "comedy." "Burn After Reading" is more refined, getting its laughs not from pratfalls and pies to the face; rather, the punch lines in each scene tend to be quiet. We´re forced to look for them and comprehend the humor at the same time. There is one exception roughly halfway through the film. It´s a doozy, perhaps the funniest moment in the movies all year. Therefore, this isn´t a movie for every audience. The dark humor, lack of many "obvious" laugh out loud moments…this is a tough sell for the audience, especially so close to the release of "Tropic Thunder."
Which isn´t to say this isn´t a worthy, almost brilliant production. Why almost brilliant? Because of the characters. More precisely, the way they´re written. Simply, none of them are remotely likeable. Swinton´s Katie Cox is a cold hearted bitch; her lover on the side Harry (Clooney) is in the running for most infidelities in 96 minutes; Litzke is desperate to bank enough money for four different cosmetic procedures; Osborne is a loose cannon in every sense of the term. There´s not a single likeable person worth rooting for in the main cast. (Richard Jenkins as the gym manager with a crush on Linda is the most sympathetic, thanks to the actor and the character. He´s also hideously out of place in the production, surrounded by nutcases on every side.)
The thing with the plot-and narrative purists are going to hate this-is the CD means nothing in the long run. The Coen´s fashion a story about the people with the information as a side note. See, they don´t really care it at all. It is vastly more entertaining to delight in Pitt´s performance or his interaction with McDormand and Malkovich than it is to really worry about "classified" government data. I believe the Coen´s know this. They don´t focus too heavily on this side of the plot, opting to showcase their actors.
We´re not supposed to take anything in "Burn After Reading" seriously. Not the cheating, not the deaths, not the beatings, not the dichotomy between people trying to get out of relationships and the one trying to get into a coupling. No, this is a farce of the first order, ridiculously inappropriate for much of the running time, but filled with sublime comedic performances from actors we never would have thought capable. They are the focus of the film, obviously. We´re supposed to see "everyday" people in them. The woman insecure in her looks, pining for a lover. The seemingly happy couple, both cheating on one another. A miserable man always on the verge of a breakdown. We get the comedy from their simple, seemingly benign everyday interactions. Granted, they are exaggerated for effect, but the point remains.
The audience is on the same page as the writer-directors from frame one, thanks to an extreme zoom in from space all the way down to a close-up of Osborne´s perfectly polished shoes on a perfectly polished floor in a perfectly lit intelligence headquarters. Not a word is spoken; all we see are feet. Yet it´s funny in some way. I´m not even sure why it works like it does. All I know is that it does. I think that´s the greatest power of "Burn After Reading": it works when, by all rights, it shouldn´t. Filled with unsympathetic characters, a nonsense plot and no obvious comedic edge, I´d wager we´re going to be hearing a lot about this movie come Oscar time.
An unexpected hit and the second honest to goodness Oscar contender of the year, "Burn After Reading" comes wildly endorsed with an 8.5 out of 10 rating. And guys, don´t sit down. You´ll understand after you see the movie.