Sep 22 2008
Burn After Reading
or before...
Maybe I don’t need to wait…
You have the Coen Brothers—Ethan & Joel with an ensemble cast of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, and Richard Jenkins.
Based on the trailer this was going to be a smash hit with a magnitude size of The Big Lebowski! Memorable characters, fantastic dialog, and great great story! That’s what it looked like. I would even say there were moments throughout the movie that I thought were lines or parts of lines, or the timing or melody of lines that were straight out of the Big Lebowski. Now, I have seen the Big Lebowski in excess of 100 times, I know this movie, this is a movie I know (Sexy Beast—I’ve also seen a few times) Almost to a fault I was reminded, the more I watched the more I was reminded that Burn After Reading was no Big Lebowski... Thanks to BunnieLebowski, another similarity could be viewed here!
The bummer was that the trailer showed all the best parts. So, “fuck-it,” I’m gonna save you the cost and a trip to the movies. The trailer! (Fuck-it, that’s your answer to everything isn’t it? My condolences, the bums lost! My advice to you, is to do what your parents did—get a job sir! —Classic lines from TBL)
There was a ton of potential: writing, directing, and acting! The teaser bits from the trailer went no where! The story never really took off or jelled. The quirkiness of the characters could have went in more interesting places. If I had to pick one positive aspect, I would pick the acting.
Not the end for the Brothers Coen, after all, they have a laundry list of smash classics, the aforementioned The Big Lebowski , Fargo , No Country for Old Men , O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, just to name a few!
Sometimes the the best part is the wait and that’s the way I saw it this time! (yes, to be fair this was based on only one viewing and sometimes the Coen movies need more than one for the full impact!) Let’s face it, most people only give something one shot!
—iChef Cinema
I had a similar reaction to Raising Arizona. It took a second viewing many years later to appreciate it. I saw it for the first time in a theater when my first child was still a baby and I was still hormonal. Every time that baby was on screen, I was in fear for his life. I was furious by the end of the movie and livid that anyone could possibly think it was funny. Of course, I also had to stop reading newspapers and watching the news for a couple of years because I cried every time a story involved a child.
Okay, so it was nothing like your reaction but I do like the movie now. I’ve only seen The Big Lebowski once and didn’t like it. Maybe I should give it a second chance too.
I know it’s not completely fair and I will give Burn After Reading a second and maybe even a third try. I did review it the way I saw it though and like I said most people won’t give it a second
thoughttry.I won’t admit this out loud, but I didn’t like TBL the first time either—but I chewed through it!
—iChef Cinema