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After their bleak and violent, but Oscar-winning, neo-western No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers here return with a considerable change of pace. Burn After Reading is an absurdist, madcap comedy thriller more in the vein of The Big Lebowski or Raising Arizona than their last offering. Typically for the Coens, the plot is so convoluted as to make a summary both redundant and effectively impossible. Suffice to say, it involves blackmail, extortion, adultery, murder, internet dating and workout videos. The central element of the plot - although it's ultimately little more than a MacGuffin - is a mislaid disc containing sensitive CIA data, which is found on the floor of a gym changing room. This catalyst for all the various contortions of the narrative is only introduced a good twenty minutes or so into the film, however, and the section prior to this event is notably slow and surprisingly uninteresting. The Coens have given themselves so many characters to play with that they seem to have trouble establishing the myriad array of interrelationships between them.
Another problem that arises here is there's no character for the audience to relate with, in the mould of a Marge Gunderson for Fargo or "Dude" Lebowksi - they're all either unlikeable or morons (and in some cases unlikeable morons). Thank goodness, then, for Brad Pitt's vacuous, permanently-iPod-using Chad Feldheimer. He's a moron, alright, but he's the most entertaining character by far, and the film springs to life noticeably once he is introduced. George Clooney clearly enjoys himself too, and the Coens reward him with one of the most interesting parts in the plot, but when neither of these characters is on screen the film does definitely lag. Fortunately, once the plot is in motion, there are easily enough twists and unlikely situations to sustain interest, to the extent that it's precisely the absurdity of everything that happens that makes it funny. It's consistently amusing, if not often hilarious, although it certainly has its moments.
Despite the Coens' enviable track record, their films are not universally loved. Critics of the brothers often argue that their work tends to feel somewhat distant and aloof, as if the Coens are laughing at us (the audience) for not being in on the joke. Their famously unforthcoming interviews and unwillingness to divulge what their films are about only add to this perception. Burn After Reading does suffer from this, to a degree (although it's certainly not an issue with all of the Coens' filmography), and that makes this a film that's perhaps hard to warm to. Ultimately it's hard to avoid the feeling that it's all rather pointless, especially after an ending in which nothing is really resolved, and still none of the characters have any idea what's really going on. But given that this is the Coens, that's precisely the intention.
The summary
A frivolous excursion into Coenland, Burn After Reading is enjoyable, if lightweight fare given the trademark Coen twist.
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