01-16-2009, 11:11 AM
I finally got around to watching Burn After Reading last night. It's a hard movie to review because there was so much great stuff in it, and yet it had sort of an...unfinished feel to it. Hard to explain. When it ended, I felt like there could've been another half hour of movie left. It just seemed to end kind of abruptly.
Malkovich, Pitt, Clooney, and McDormand were all outstanding in their roles. They all do comedy really well. Plenty of laugh out loud moments and several classic lines.
My two favorite lines both came from Malkovich.
***SPOILERS***
"You are part of a league of morons. You're one of the morons I've been fighting my whole life -- my whole, fucking life. But guess what? Today, I win."
And, of course...
"A drinking problem? A DRINKING PROBLEM? You're a Mormon! Compared to you we all have a drinking problem."
***END SPOILERS***
I can recommend it without hesitation, but it isn't up there with their best work. But it's far better than Intolerable Cruelty. I think this will probably be one that gets better with repeated viewings. I also think I might judge the Coens' movies on a different scale because I expect so much from them. If this was done by an unknown writer and director, I'd probably be raving about it.
Malkovich, Pitt, Clooney, and McDormand were all outstanding in their roles. They all do comedy really well. Plenty of laugh out loud moments and several classic lines.
My two favorite lines both came from Malkovich.
***SPOILERS***
"You are part of a league of morons. You're one of the morons I've been fighting my whole life -- my whole, fucking life. But guess what? Today, I win."
And, of course...
"A drinking problem? A DRINKING PROBLEM? You're a Mormon! Compared to you we all have a drinking problem."
***END SPOILERS***
I can recommend it without hesitation, but it isn't up there with their best work. But it's far better than Intolerable Cruelty. I think this will probably be one that gets better with repeated viewings. I also think I might judge the Coens' movies on a different scale because I expect so much from them. If this was done by an unknown writer and director, I'd probably be raving about it.