Burn After Reading DVD Review

The Coen brothers have a habit of creating thought-provoking, dark “comedies” and dramas that leave viewers thinking long after the credits have stopped rolling. First there was 1984’s Blood Simple, followed by 1987’s Raising Arizona. The 90s featured The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo and The Big Lebowski. The year 2000 was ushered in with O Brother, Where Art Thou?, followed by The Man Who Wasn’t There, Intolerable Cruelty, Bad Santa, The Ladykillers, Romance & Cigarettes and, most recently, No Country for Old Men. Most have been dark, funny and, at times, bizarre–an eclectic portfolio, to say the least.

Then there’s Burn After Reading, which was billed as a comedy but is really a dark film with the occasional funny instance, along the lines of American Beauty, or even Pulp Fiction (or, at times, dare I say, No Country For Old Men).

The plot of Burn After Reading involves conspiracy, espionage and “a league of morons”, and in the end, there really aren’t any winners or losers. The premise involves several story lines that in one way or another all revolve around Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt’s characters, who find a CD they think contains “top secret intelligence”.

It’s obvious that Ethan and Joel Coen continue to write films based around characters (and the actors they envision bringing those characters to life). Lead actors McDormand (Laurel Canyon, Friends With Money, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Almost Famous, Fargo), Pitt (Babel, The Mexican, Snatch, Fight Club, Sleepers), J.K. Simmons (“The Closer”, Rendition, Juno), John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, The Deep End) and George Clooney (Out of Sight, Three Kings, Intolerable Cruelty and O Brother, Where Art Thou?), each play their roles to perfection, so much so that for the first time ever, I think Clooney’s legion of swooning female fans may give pause, as he plays a smarmy buffoon almost too well.

Perhaps the best bit of writing/directing/acting is in the form of the personality quirks each character possesses, from Clooney’s character’s fascination with hardwood flooring, to Pitt’s character’s gum snapping goofball dancing, to McDormand’s shallow obsession with various body parts. Funny, yes. Annoying, YES.

The DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, with audio in 5.1 Dolby Digital, plus an optional French 5.1 track, as well as subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish. It’s also rated R, for good reason.

Extras include the featurette “Finding the Burn”, which features interviews with cast and crew, as well as the Coens’ perspective on the movie; “DC Insiders Run Amuck”, which showcases yet more information regarding character development and the actors behind the roles, as well as location; and, lastly, “Welcome Back, George”, about, you guessed it, Clooney in all his glory, and his relationship with the Coens, which has covered a decade plus.

By the end of Burn After Reading, it seems everyone is guilty of something, and for the most part, got what they deserved. Or maybe that’s just the Coens’ trademark dark, twisted rational talking.

I give it four out of five stars, and think anyone who enjoys a grim, dark, twisted sense of humor will like Burn After Reading.