Burn After Reading |  | Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Actors: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.18
as of 3/22/2010 07:00 EDT details
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Seller: goHastings
Rating:  273 reviews
Sales Rank: 2284
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 025195016490
UPC: 025195016490
EAN: 0025195016490
ASIN: B001JIE7JC
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: December 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
BURN AFTER READING (DVD) (ENG SDH/SPAN/FREN/DOL DI
Amazon.com
After the dark brilliance of No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading may seem like a trifle, but few filmmakers elevate the trivial to art quite like Joel and Ethan Coen. Inspired by Stansfield Turner's Burn Before Reading, the comically convoluted plot clicks into gear when the CIA gives analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) the boot. Little does Cox know his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton, riffing on her Michael Clayton character), is seeing married federal marshal Harry (George Clooney, Swinton's Clayton co-star, playing off his Syriana role). To get back at the Agency, Cox works on his memoirs. Through a twist of fate, fitness club workers Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt in a pompadour that recalls Johnny Suede) find the disc and try to wrangle a "Samaratin tax" out of the surly alcoholic. An avid Internet dater, Linda plans to use the money for plastic surgery, oblivious that her manager, Ted (The Visitor's Richard Jenkins), likes her just the way she is. Though it sounds like a Beltway remake of The Big Lebowski, the Coen entry it most closely resembles, this time the brothers concentrate their energies on the myriad insecurities endemic to the mid-life crisis--with the exception of Chad, who's too dense to share such concerns, leading to the funniest performance of Pitt's career. If Lebowski represented the Coen's unique approach to film noir, Burn sees them putting their irresistibly absurdist stamp on paranoid thrillers from Enemy of the State to The Bourne Identity. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Burn After Reading (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 273
 Good movie, in good condition, fast shipping. March 15, 2010
Bryce A. Fluker (Texas)
I received the DVD in excellent condition and watched it while riding my triathlon bike inside on the trainer. Originally I purchased this movie because a housekeeping employee at the gym I personal train at said I remind him of Brad Pitt in this movie and so I wanted to check it out. Good cast and interesting plot with one twist I wasn't expecting. I would recommend this movie to other people.
 It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that fling March 4, 2010
mark twain (Monrovia, Liberia)
Five out of five sporks on the flinger rating scale. This is one of those "comedies" where you're watching the movie, wondering if the funny part is supposed to be happening yet.
The way I hear it, the movie got made as follows: The Coen brothers took the script to the money people, who soon realized it wasn't funny in the least. They pointed this out as a serious obstacle, whereupon the Coen brothers said, "Yeah, but dig this: we'll cut the budget down to nothing by shooting the action as a variety of interior scenes in somebody's house. We'll get Clooney and Pitt together and they'll make movie magic somehow. Pitt'll do that thing he does with the eyes and Clooney'll talk real low and toss his head on one side and the audience will go mental. Then we'll get McDormand to put down a heavy perky-pooky riff like she did in Fargo. "And the funniness deficiency?" "Weeell, whaddya say we get John Malkovitch to act kind of intense, in a gay man sort of way, and say the F word a lot. And we mean A LOT."
"Like how many F bombs are we talking here?"
"How about every other word out of Malkovitch's mouth is F***?"
"Sounds okay. But make sure you shoot the movie in somebody's broom closet and make sure you get these big names lassoed by telling 'em how arty the whole thing is."
"Not a problem. These actor types got no judgement, see. Tell 'em the script is arty and this explains the lack of funniness in a comedy film. Heck, we're pretty sure Clooney'd play a coprophile if we told him it was all-fired arty. And Pitt as the mental-deficient gym trainer... he LOVES that kind of thing."
Burn After Reading March 3, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
Osbourne Cox, a Balkan expert, is fired at the CIA, so he begins a memoir. His wife wants a divorce and expects her lover, Harry, a philandering State Department marshal, to leave his wife. A diskette falls out of a gym bag at a Georgetown fitness center. Two employees there try to turn it into cash: Linda, who wants money for elective surgery, and Chad, an amiable goof. Information on the disc leads them to Osbourne who rejects their sales pitch; then they visit the Russian embassy. To sweeten the pot, they decide they need more of Osbourne's secrets. Meanwhile, Linda's boss likes her, and Harry's wife leaves for a book tour. All roads lead to Osbourne's house. This is entertaining, dark and very funny. The best part of the movie is watching this great cast perform brilliantly with the odd-ball material they are given. They are all straight men for the Coen brother's antics. There is violence, bad language, and everyone is sleeping with everyone else, especially George Clooney. This movie will not be to everyone's taste. I enjoyed this mini-masterpiece.
Wow February 10, 2010
K. guerra
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm extremely surprised about all of the negative reviews... well, actually, not really.
Burn After Reading tells a hilarious story of two very naive and absentminded gym workers (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a copy of an ex CIA agent's (John Malkovich) Memoir and mistake it for classified government information. This begins the hilarious story of five characters who are each interwoven after one big misunderstanding.
To appreciate this movie, you can't take it too seriously. Lighten up and appreciate the nonsensical and hysterical story directed by none other than the Coen brothers. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and John Malkovich make Burn After Reading one hell of a masterpiece. Each one of their characters are so imperative in telling this story.
At the end of the movie, Instead of sitting there saying, "Huh?" Think back at how each character's indirect actions interweave this hilarious cast and ultimately create such an incredible, absurd mess.
Open your mind and appreciate the subtle humor, fine acting, and all-around great story that Burn After Reading comprises.
 Disappointing February 7, 2010
R. Christenson (Pine, CO USA)
Nope. It looks like they ran out of money before finishing this film, or just couldn't come up with a good ending. The thrust of the plot is a ripoff of CHU CHU AND THE PHILLY FLASH which starred Alan Arkin and Carol Burnett as a couple of bums who try to get a reward for returning some secret documents they found. Here it's a couple of gym employees trying to get a reward for some secrets on a computer disk they found. There are some parallel subplots about the owner of the disk, his wife's boyfriend, and some coincidental path-crossing, and some of it is funny; but not as funny as the old Alan Arkin film. However, I would have like it well enough until they failed to show the end of each of the parallel stories, instead having framing characters tell what happened.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 273
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