When trying to categorize the Coen Brothers films, two distinct categories emerge. The first group are movies that are primarily dramatic, such as Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men, and The Man Who Wasn't There. The second group tend to be straight up comedies, such as Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother Where Art Thou?. Granted, none of there movies are without some humor (even No Country for Old Men), and even the lightest of their comedies includes (imminent) hangings, suicides, and bounty hunters getting blown up by their own grenades. Arguably their greatest (and one of my favorites), Fargo, deftly straddles the line between the two groups, often coming down on the comedy side, while being far too violent to completely live there.
Even with a shocking turn of events about 2/3 of the way through it, Burn After Reading is solidly in the "comedy" group of the films. Sure, much of what happen feels like it is important, but in the big scheme of things it really isn't. Hell, at the end of the film, I wouldn't have been surprised if the two CIA career-men didn't end their meeting with "Fuck it, let's bowl".
This is not a subtle film. Despite his life completely falling apart, it is difficult to feel sorry for John Malkovich's Oswald Cox. He's an unrepentant elitist ass, with a foul mouth and a tendency to drink till passing out. Little time goes by without a character yelling at, punching, or crashing a car into another. Tilda Swinton is a frosty bitch*, a pediatrician with the absolute worst bedside manner. George Clooney plays a Treasury man who is cheating on his wife with two other women, yet is shocked when he is delivered divorce papers.
Come to think of it, it is pretty inaccurate to say nothing important happens. Many things that are important happen to our characters. This is especially true for the gym employees played by Brad Pitt and Richard Jenkins. However, I guess what I meant by "important" is that what happens is much less important in the scheme of international espionage than most of the characters think it is. At one point, we are led to believe that Clooney is building some sort of torture rig for interrogation. What it turns out to be is something else entirely. On the surface, information found by Brad Pitt's energetic trainer appears to be important...until we hear some of it and realize how piddling it really is.
The usual Coen Brothers elements are here. The somewhat random and comical punch to the face, the very Coenesque tertiary characters (such as Swinton's divorce attorney), and the wholly appropriate music score by Carter Burwell.
Like most of the Coen Brothers movies, this one takes multiple viewings to truly enjoy it**. When I first watched it in the theater, I enjoyed it well enough, but much of it just didn't click as well as it did the second time I watched it. I think its in part because of how much idiotic craziness is going on in the film. It takes repeated to put together the links behind that craziness, and see what is really going on there.
Without a doubt, the Coens are at the top of my list of favorite movie makers. Burn After Reading is not my favorite movie of theirs, but it is definitely a movie I really like. It's safe to say more of their films will be coming up.
* I really hate using this term, but this is one role where it truly applies
** I think this is especially true of their comedies. It's why The Big Lebowski took several years to become the beloved cult classic (arguably more just classic) film it is today.
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