Kicking off the Venice Film Festival today is Joel and Ethan Coen’s Burn After Reading. Andrew Pulver of The Guardian, UK, says:
Clocking in at a crisp 95 minutes, Burn After Reading is a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy that couldn’t be in bigger contrast to the Coens’ last film, the bloodsoaked, brooding No Country for Old Men. Burn, in comparison, is bit of a bantamweight: fast moving, lots of attitude, and uncorking a killer punch when it can.
Where does this film leave the Coens? Their unique position, as darlings of both the Hollywood set and the festival circuit, is unchanged. What they have managed to come up with here, somehow, is a light-as-fluff flipside to hardcore “insider” films like All the President’s Men, Michael Clayton or, indeed, The Insider: it paints the powers-that-be as goofy, chaotic and definitively non-sinister. This lot, you feel, couldn’t bug their way out of a paper bag.
That’s as spoiler-free as any excerpt I could find. Anyone who’s read the script and wants to talk about the plot, please be sure to top off your comment with a SPOILER ALERT, ok? The twists and switchbacks are the source of most of the fun, and most of us will want to experience those on the screen.
“We-are-not-amused” Variety review, plus group photos of the directors and cast after the cut.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
A seriously talented cast has been asked to act like cartoon characters in this tale of desperation, mutual suspicion and vigorous musical beds, all in the name of laughs that only sporadically ensue. Everything here, from the thesps’ heavy mugging to the uncustomarily overbearing score by Carter Burwell and the artificially augmented vulgarities in the dialogue, has been dialed up to an almost grotesquely exaggerated extent, making for a film that feels misjudged from the opening scene and thereafter only occasionally hits the right note.
The Coens’ script, which feels immature but was evidently written around the same time as that for “No Country,” is just too fundamentally silly, without the grounding of a serious substructure that would make the sudden turn to violence catch the viewer up short. Nothing about the project’s execution inspires the feeling that this was ever intended as anything more than a lark, which would be fine if it were a good one. As it is, audience teeth-grinding sets in early and never lets up.
Oh well. 8 Oscars for the Brothers Coen is enough for now. Who can blame them for relaxing with a fluffy palette-cleanser after serving up something as rich and fulfilling as No Country for Old Men?
18 Responses for "Burn After Reading, first reactions"
I was putting this entry together at the same time Sasha was posting hers below, so I guess it’s lucky that the only duplication is some photo redundancy.
My personal first impression is that this movie will put Venice audiences in a fine mood for the rest of the festival, but whether its “in competition” or “out of competition” would make no difference at all in the number of awards it won’t be getting.
Fun movie, and thank god for Coen style. This looks like a party for the participants. No grand ambitions beyond providing 90 minutes of screwball goofiness.
If there’s a deeper message at all, Andrew Pulver has touched on it: The slapstick incompetence of the CIA is a poke in the eye to our “national intelligence” — in more ways than one.
This one will have reviews all over the map. Variety’s Todd McCarthy didn’t like it.
PS. Can someone please introduce Frances McDormand to a stylist.
[fixed your typo "Fraces" to "Frances," dela. Unless you meant to type "Fracas" -- in which case, that seems harsh
]
I was looking for the Variety review when I ran across The Guardian’s. Thanks!
Thanks Ryan. I meant Frances.
I am actually looking forward to this movie because of a big curiosity factor.
I can’t wait to see it because I love the Coens, whether they’re doing comedy or drama. Sure, they’ve had their missteps, but which great artists haven’t? This definitely looks like a huge step-up from Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. I wish McCarthy had made a distinction between other comedies of theirs. They’ve made great silly films before: Raising Arizona and O Brother Where Art Thou.
I agree with Wells, and I too shit on McCarthy. I mean what the fuck, with IMDB, research isn’t exactly that difficult anymore.
I’ve lost the plot with that comment, RRA. What about Wells? What research? Did I miss something?
i plan to read the script before the film hits wide. but i always put off everything. meaning i’ll probably read it sept 09 or so.ha ha…
and is the change gears thing really that rare for directors….
and speaking of gear changing *cough cough* how about that bardem in vcb. i think he may have lost some of the mainstream ‘for the guys’ type with that movie. ha ha…
hmm yeah i guess i’ll be there for ‘burn’.which means i’ll be on *here* whining about it/the next day.
Ryan, it was my joke of how McCarthy, as other comments have pointed out, somehow made the silly mistake of combining the subpar CRUELTY and LADYKILLERS with that of RAISING ARIZONA and BIG LEBOWSKI and so forth.
Its like shitting on Spielberg for CRYSTAL SKULL, and saying RAIDERS was part of it.
ah, ok. I lost the thread of the conversation. I don’t care for McCarthy much and only linked to him because reviews are scarce. I rarely agree with him, and didn’t even read the whole review.
The Coens have directed some of the funniest movies ever made. Any critic who doesn’t know that, or doesn’t agree, should have superglue squirted on his keyboard.
Kirk Honeycutt’s review is fairly positive and seems to get the tone the Coens are going for. He compares it favorably to The Big Lebowski.
i hearing some buzz for Brad Pitts performance… some say is the highlight of the movie… what a surprise…
REALLY looking forward to this. Who doesn’t look forward to a new movie from the Coen’s (especially with such an all-star cast)?
While it most likely will not top No Country or Fargo, and probably none of the performances will be as top of the line as Bardem’s and McDormand’s in those movies respectively, I think we’re in for a real treat.
[...] Burn After Reading, first reactions awardsdaily.com [...]
So I guess Pitt is now in the Supporting Actor Oscar race? cool.
so basically the main complaint from critics is that the Coens didn’t return this year with another dark film but a light funny one…wtf?! God forbid the coens refuse to be pigeon-holed! Whatever I’m still excited to see it once it hits the U.S.
P.S. Does anyone have any clue if they’ll be giving free screenings of the film in the NY metro area??
I’m so psyched for this movie whatever the critics have to say about it.
Brad Pitt can be so funny, as long as he’s not taking himself too seriously… in any case, it’s about time someone made good use of his habitually spastic arm movements
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