After the Cone brothers made another award winning mark in Hollywood by obtaining an Oscar award for the best picture of 2007 for their suspense thriller No Country For Old Men (2007) they have chosen to return to their usual style of black comedy with the film Burn After Reading (2008). However, before I really delve into my review for their new thrilling contribution I wanted to draw awareness to the odd correlation between the film’s theatrical poster and it’s similar design with the design for the theatrical poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo (1958).
After watching the film I must say that there is one obvious similarity between the two films other than the graphic design of the film posters. If you’re not following along very well to the relationships with the characters in Burn After Reading you might experience a bit of vertigo as you try to unravel the entire plot of the film. One of the characters in the film clearly makes a point when he asks an employee of his to come back and report to him when it all makes more sense. The motives of some of the primary characters are very clear. The rather dim-witted pair of gym employees are looking to earn a few extra dollars on the side by retrieving a “Good Samaritan Tax” from the owner of a computer disc that holds his memoirs. Any clearly defined motives beyond this one particular example would add up to nothing more than a matter of the characters who are attempting to avoid getting caught with their personal matters hanging out of the closet for the world to see.
The film itself is all about the characters that have no real desire to accomplish lofty goals that the general public would consider valuable goals to achieve. There is a fitness center employee who wants to undergo four cosmetic surgeries; her co-worker shows any real intellectual depth other than the brilliancy of concocting the plan to earn a Good Samaritan Tax; the owner of the item that is found at the gym seems to be a self-appreciative alcoholic who refuses to listen to any external criticism. Should I even bother going into detail of the extramarital relationship his wife is having with their mutual best friend who is happily married to an adolescence fiction writer? The group quickly finds themselves in a muddled mess that leaves an upper-management CIA operative in a dizzy world of confusion that he quickly sweeps under the rug with the statement “come back to me when it all makes sense”.
In all consideration I was wondering if this film really had a substantial point other than to offer the audience a fun filled adventure filled with a comedy of errors. That’s all that is valuable with this film is the purpose of people screwing up and it is funny to watch things unravel out of control. However, this method of comedy works well for the film, because I believe it was more hilarious to watch than some of the garbage “comedy films” that have been released over the last twenty years of Hollywood filmmaking. The dark and sadistic humor that is associated with the Coen films strikes a certain appeal for me that is more satisfying than the other plot driven comedies that rely on slapstick humor as the drawing power for the laughs.
Despite its fallacy of lacking any intellectual endeavors, I was able to walk away from the movie theater believing that I spent my money well. I wouldn’t rate this film as the best movie that was every produced by the Coen brothers, but it is far from being their worst. I would like to peruse another viewing of the film when it is released on DVD, but in the mean time I hope you will have an opportunity to see it for yourself. My final rating for Burn After Reading must be typed in with a stealth like review rating of eight out of ten possible points.
