The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

They didn't really succeed in making him look schlubby, but he worked well as a vain, commitment-phobic possible sex addict.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlA9hmrC8DU

"We have her? To do what with?"

don't really get how you can dislike clooney in this movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjtWRI0k4g

really did appreciate they were cast against type

I thought Pitt was hilariouis

hilarious even

I liked Man Who Wasn't There, worst for me is probably O Brother

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:23 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Jfc

this is my favourite coens

― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is the worst coen bros

― Karl Rove Knausgård (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

lj you are like the anti-me.

― what U cry 4 (jim), Sunday, December 28, 2008 7:38 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha

http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA4LzA1L2QwL2JyYWRwaXR0LmJjMmQyLmdpZgpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/47ac6804/968/brad-pitt.jpg

otm

Watched this again, for the first time since it was originally released. My wife didn't know Pitt could be funny! Anyway, I still sort of appreciated the audacity of the shrug of an ending, but a lot of it reminded me of early (continued?) criticism of the Coens as mean-spirited or contemptuous.

if you take it, as I do, as a War on Terror parable, "a bunch of people die and no one learns anything" seems like the most appropriate ending possible

I've thought about this movie so many times during the Trump presidency

lj: I've came round on this film, no longer my least favourite Cohen bros, has achieved mid-table respectability in my Cohen bros league table

I actually feel like as far as government satire goes, it kind of transcends a specific target and just kind of indicts or at least makes fun of all career government workers. Like, the crew of JK and David Rasche, I think of them as the proverbial, perpetual Deep State, just career bureaucratic buffoons that populate the back hallways in the corridors of power. Sure, they might enable a war on terror or the like, but they're generally indifferent/agnostic and are mostly just trying to keep their heads down and make it to the finish line of retirement with benefits.

Xxp
You’re not the only one... https://newrepublic.com/article/143875/living-coen-brothers-darkest-comedy

There are definitely seeds of something clever and funny in this, like I kinda get what they’re shooting for, but after sitting through it maybe three times now it’s only become increasingly clear that it’s a total misfire, actually bad Coen Bros movie.

And I don’t get the praise for Pitt’s comedy chops in this, he’s awful. Someone like Channing Tatum could’ve done this twice as well without being so distractingly try-hard.

I think Pitt is having a blast and not being too try-hard. I bet Tatum would have been both good, too, though remarkably similar in performance to Pitt. I've got to assume the Coens, for all their colorful characters, keep at least some degree of control. Their characters might be cartoons but they're very specific cartoons from writer/directors not known for being particularly loose with things.

By the way, a nugget I've dropped here before, I think, is that I used to know a Coen cousin, and he told me that if you knew their family back in Minnesota then so much of their collective sensibility makes an extra bit of sense.

Pitt is having a blast

Yes. And this is a problem. He should be acting, not wilding. Farce is hard.

I mean, McDormand and Clooney are both mug-city in this silly movie, too. Malkovich seems to be acting, as is Jenkins. Maybe Tilda. But the leads got nothing going on besides being funny for being and looking dumb, imo.

I think there are one or two Coen brothers movies I've just never seen. but Ladykillers and the one with Catherine Zeta-Jones are the only two I never want to see again.

Every artist has their 'Tragic Band' era - pretty much the entire first half the 2000s in the Coens' case.

if I have to look at Channing Tatum’s face for more than 10 seconds I get physically ill

xp intolerable cruelty is excellent but not as a "coen bros" movie perhaps

I see Intolerable Cruelty as another of the Coen's attempts to do homage to Preston Sturges. Like several of their faux-Sturges films, it almost works, but lands a bit off target.

Malkovich seems to be acting, as is Jenkins.

The only scenery that Malkovich leaves unmasticated in this film are the brownstone and cars.

Well, he and Jenkins are the only characters with real motivations for their behavior, at least.

They have to reboot Burn After Reading every ten years or lose the rights to the cinematic universe. https://t.co/UJtAlzNpei

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) January 18, 2021

the best takes in this bump are those praising this film for its ongoing relevance ^_^

xp. "the raw intelligence"

this is probably the most misanthropic cohen brothers movie, no? the nearest thing to a likable character is ... Jenkins, maybe? although simping for McDormand's narcissistic-maniac is deeply pathetic, and his fate is cruel

And I don’t get the praise for Pitt’s comedy chops in this, he’s awful. Someone like Channing Tatum could’ve done this twice as well without being so distractingly try-hard.

― circa1916,

I look at his performance here as a trial run for better, looser, more relaxed ones in the next few years.

I had totally forgotten that in the Coens filmography No Country for Old Men is sandwiched between this and The Ladykillers, which kind of blows my mind.

I think the reason this never worked for me is that it seemed like a case of the Coens self-consciously trying to make a Coen Brothers Type Movie

Pitt's performance isn't about having multilayered comedy chops, it's glorious clowning.

Agreed

Also no country is just lifted straight from the novel, so maybe they didnt have to work themselves into the mood as much

Not that they finish editing a serious drama and then get the bends sitting down to write a goofy comedy - they're usually struggling to get a screenplay financed from the slush pile - but it's more the pattern than not to go from srs bsns -> goofball shit.

Blood Simple -> Raising Arizona
Crossing & Fink b2b -> Hudsucker
Fargo -> Lebowski
Man Who Wasn't -> Intolerable
No Country -> Burn After
Llewyn Davis -> Hail Caesar

i was surprised not so much by the shift in mood but in quality. all this time i'd been thinking of cruelty, ladykiller & burn as one continuous string of misfires (the first two so misconceived & badly executed that i'd wondered if the coens had completely lost it, the third better but just sort of an ungainly clunker), with no country being their reinvigorated return from the wilderness. its wild to realize that it comes square in the middle of that otherwise very awkward string of films. good point darraghmac, maybe the relatively straight adaptation took some of the pressure off

Yes but *also* intolerable cruelty and burn after reading are good tho

It's also harder to be funny than to be serious, imo. One reason I suggested "Burn..." to my wife is that there are far too few contemporary funny movies to watch.

For me the problem with Intolerable Cruelty is that the film never achieved the sense of play it hoped to deliver. It was generally amusing in concept and execution, but it desperately wanted to be delightful and it failed.

josh otm re comedy, everyone has their favs and least favs with the coens but for me all the ones that i think dont work are comedies. its a much, much smaller target to hit.