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Burn After Reading

2008

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich ...

6.5

52,898

Comedy A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it. CIA agent Osbourne Cox is writing his memoirs after getting fired from the CIA. The disc containing the memoirs is discovered in the female locker room at the gym, where it was left by mistake by the secretary of Katie Cox's divorce lawyer. Katie had downloaded the information secretly so her divorce lawyer would ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"The brothers have conjured a crazy-quilt comic thriller that takes on our growing national stupidity in the form of a sex farce. The result is wildly funny, but just as wildly uneven. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)."	POS
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"This is not a great Coen brothers' film. Nor is it one of their bewildering excursions off the deep end. It's funny, sometimes delightful, sometimes a little sad (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)."	POS
United States	Dana Stevens Slate	"Despite the film's intermittent pleasures (Pitt's gum-snapping dolt chief among them), the result is oddly airless"	NEU
United States	J.R. Jones Chicago Reader	"After the portentous 'No Country for Old Men,' Joel and Ethan Coen return to their trademark brand of cruel, misanthropic farce, and for dark laughs and hurtling narrative momentum this spy caper is their best work since 'Fargo'"	POS
United States	Ty Burr Boston Globe	"Shallow and proud of it, an antic cartoon that lacks the comic inspiration to go the distance."	NEU
United States	Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer	"A goofy screwball romp that affords a gaggle of A-listers the chance to hambone around in antic style"	POS
United States	Joe Morgenstern The Wall Street Journal	"It's a cheerful trifle tossed off by the Coen brothers in their self-enchanted mode, an approach to comedy that shrugs off comedy's cardinal rule -- Don't Act Funny"	NEU
United States	Walter Addiego SFGATE	"Doesn't add up to much, but it's fast and funny and lets a bunch of top-drawer actors exercise their comic muscles"	POS
United States	Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly	"The movie is overplowed, even if Brad Pitt's debut as a Coen comedy player is eye-catching."	NEU
United States	Claudia Puig USA Today	"In the pantheon of Coen movies, this is perhaps most closely related to The Big Lebowski in spirit (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Neely Tucker The Washington Post	"The high-octane cast works hard. But there's nothing to suggest anybody off camera tried that hard, which is fatal to a Coen outing."	NEU
United Kingdom	Ian Nathan Empire	"If 'No Country For Old Men' was vintage port, 'Burn After Reading' is a shot of tequila: eye watering and hard to swallow, but the after-effect is terrific"	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"As is always the case with a production of Joel & Ethan, it's difficult to classify, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	David Ansen Newsweek	"That's the paradox that makes this parade of folly so much fun: it feels as if everyone involved is having a high old time, and their enthusiasm is contagious"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"'Burn After Reading' is the Coens' most mediocre film in a long time (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	James Christopher The Times	"Indeed, the spies and thrills don't add up at all. The plot is a total mistake. The characters are madly absurd. The film shouldn't work, but it does."	POS

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