This week's pick: "Burn After Reading," a dry, deranged and occasionally delirious dark comedy from the beautiful minds of Joel and Ethan Coen. I was lucky enough to see it in theaters and unlucky enough to see it in theaters...with my parents.
If you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, take this opportunity to decide if you want to read the rest of this recommendation because "Burn After Reading" is NOT kid-friendly. Its "R" rating is well-deserved, so if sex, violence and multiple other explicit, adult themes aren't currently in your wheelhouse of social discussion topics, you will get offended.
Or, you know, go yell at me in the comments section. That's always a gas!
In all seriousness, "Burn After Reading" is a great film (despite the naughtiness). From cast to script to the surrealist perspective it offers us on today's America, it's hard to find an area in which the Coens fell short.
What's it about, you ask?
Unhandled
"Burn After Reading" is about a lot of things. Relationships, dark government conspiracies, dumb*sses. The list goes on and on. But at its core, deep, deep down beneath the gritty layer of lust and adultery, it's about two things: love...and failure.
When Osbourne "Ozzie" Cox (John Malkovich) loses his job at the CIA as a result of his self-denied alcoholism, he does what any other ex-CIA analyst would do and decides to write a memoir! Unfortunately for Ozzie, his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) uses Ozzie's shortcomings and erratic behavior as an excuse to divorce him. And, unbeknownst to Ozzie, Katie has been seeing another man, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) for some time. #PoorOzzie #PrayForOzzie
That's just the tip of the cluster-cuss iceberg.
Katie accidentally leaves a copy of Ozzie's memoir at her local gym (she had a copy made for legal purposes but drops it) and when two knuckleheads, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), discover the CD and figure out who it really belongs to (Ozzie) they decide to blackmail him based off of nothing more than the fact that he used to work for the CIA.
Things only get more incestuous and f*cked up from there. You can watch, or you can not, it's funny either way.
But what makes it <i>different</i>?<div><sup>And why should I care?</sup></div>
First off, if you didn't notice already -- the cast. My oh my, the cast. George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins. That much star power concentrated on one stage is (what used to) guarantee the Coen brothers critical acclaim. (It hasn't been working for them too well as of late, save for "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.")
Second, the perplexingly ironic nature of "Burn After Reading" as seen through current political events and tensions. From the Russians to the mishandling of sensitive information to our uncanny ability to sabotage ourselves, it's almost eerie how many comparisons can be drawn between "then" and now.
Lastly, the infamous "Chad."
Brad Pitt's character, Chad, is one of the first examples I can think of the pop culture nomenclature for "bros" (young, preppy, sports-oriented men) who lean a little bit more on the airhead, Vineyard Vines side of the spectrum. Now, I'm not sure if it's on purpose, but Brad Pitt pulls off the Chad aesthetic surprisingly well, and it definitely pre-dates the "Chad-tucket" character millennials have come to know and love so well.
If you're still on the fence...
- Watch the trailer below!
- Watch any Coen brothers film.
- Watch the first 15 minutes, Netflix is already charging you per month anyways.
- Think about the cast. The cast!!!
- Remind yourself that we should all be able to laugh at the dark sides of life every now and then.