Tilda Swinton Movie:

		List Price: $19.98		Label: Universal Studios Salesrank: 4670 Released: December 21, 2008
		Our Price: $13.81
		Used Price: $8.36
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Columbia Pictures Burn After Reading WS on Blu-Ray Disc

Description of Burn After Reading [Blu-ray]:
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)

Burn After Reading [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Laughing All the Way . . .
2009-12-27 - I checked the Amazon reviews of this film months ago and was surprised at the dichotomy of opinions then. Considering buying it now, I find that the polarity of opinions still exists. How interesting and typical of creative art sometimes. Personally, I'd say that this is one of my favorite Coen Brothers movies. Goes to show that humor is not a constant, but quite a variety of experiences, depending on the person and the mood they're in at the time.

Fortunately or not, the characters so brilliantly played in this movie bear resemblance to many real egos I've known . . . but they're also archetypes for comedic-tragic angst that besets all of us. Whether you can find humor in that may speak to how well you're processing those experiences. Personally, I found it hysterical!

Better see this film for yourself, instead of letting the reviewers decide for you.

Very funny
2009-12-06 - Non-stop quirky humor prevails throughout this film, which features some unlikely casting to great success.

Idiotic comedy but with some funny parts.
2009-12-05 - Mostly an idiotic comedy that made little sense and was barely entertaining. A spoof of spies and spy agencies that doesn't quite make it.

Too Bad if you didn't like/get it. . .
2009-11-30 - It's all opinion. I think this is possibly the Coen Brothers best movie. Malkovich, Pitt, Clooney, Swinton, McDormand, all brilliant. You're free to not get it or not like it. I'm glad I did. I would encourage people to at least try it, just in case they feel as we did.

lolling the onestars
2009-11-24 - I just wanted to point out that every single complaint that the one-star reviews dole out are just icing on the cake as far as me totally loving this movie. The characters had no depth? The plot was too amorphous? THAT WAS THE POINT FOLKS. The characters are examples of typical character flaws that are variations on stupidity. You're supposed to enjoy their lives falling apart. I sure as hell did.