Burn After Reading - Movie Review

Every straight woman and gay man in America knows he's adorable but who knew Brad Pitt could be so funny? (I like Brad Pitt even more since I learned that he recently donated $100,000 to defeat California's Proposition 8. The ballot initiative seeking to outlaw same sex marriage - topic of my next blog post.)

Go see "Burn After Reading," the latest Coen brothers movie (coming after their Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men"). It has several funny performances from its ensemble cast, but the one everyone's going to be talking about, and should be, is Pitt's. He's hilarious!

In this purposely convoluted comedy, he plays Chad Feldheimer, a gum-chewing, hyperactive knucklehead who works at Hardbodies Fitness Centers. When Chad gets his paws on what he believes is an important CIA disk, he decides to play good samaritan and return it to its owner — for a hefty finder's fee, of course. His accomplice is fellow employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand - if you have not seen her in - Ms. Pettigrew Lives for a Day - rent it now!), a frustrated single who wants four cosmetic surgeries so, she thinks, she'll do better on the dating scene, but her insurance company won't pay for them.

The problem for Chad and Linda is the source of the disk, Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), a hot-tempered former CIA analyst who has just lost his job because he is an alcoholic. The disk contains the beginnings of his recorded memoirs and personal financial info, not valuable CIA secrets.

But the plot doesn't end there. Ozzy's doctor wife, Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton - who I love!), is cheating on him with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney - who looks terrific as usual and who I also love!), a paranoid Treasury agent who always likes to squeeze in a run after a sexual liaison. (Happy to go for a run with you any time George!) :-)

Their affair will come into play, as will so many other things, in the outcome of the disk situation.

Clooney, Malkovich and McDormand all are very funny here for different reasons. Malkovich, for instance, manages to mine Ozzy's rage for laughs. But Pitt's portrayal is what you'll remember for Chad's outrageous cluelessness. Something will be going on in the foreground of a shot at the gym, and there's Chad in the background, dancing around like a goofball (and no doubt thinking he represents the ultimate in cool) while helping a customer work out.

Kent and I love going to the movies and we have been in a bit of a dry spell lately - this was a pleasant surprise. I give it a solid B+ and think it could get Brad Pitt an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. Time well tell.

Later -

Jim