The Case for Book Burning

I think a cast as big as one sees in the film Burn After Reading, the latest Coen brothers offering, is referred to as an “ensemble”, meaning a gathering together of lots of actors whose characters are about level pegging screen-time wise and plot wise.

Odd then that I find the main character, Linda, played by Frances McDormand as a Jane Sixpack (in the drink sense) is the one I most strongly remember, and seems the centre of the film. True, John Malkovich’s foul-mouthed analyst is the main figure early on, but he fades into the background quickly thereafter, popping up every so often to explode with obscenities and then goes away for a bit again.

So, back to Linda. Actually, sidestepping Lilly, we find Brad Pitt in a role he must have loved as an airheaded gym boy bunny fitness instructor Chad, who has a heart of gold and a mind of mush. For me, Chad was the most enjoyable and likable character in the film: Tilda Swinton played the anally retentive Brit to an obnoxious degree; George Clooney’s cavalier charmer was a bit of everything, alternating between suave and awkward, and so it was hard to like him; J. K. Simmons was his usual loud bluster (he played calm people on TV once, I am sure); and the other characters were all… well, less memorable.

And the film was all about the characters, as the story itself was quite silly. To sum it up, Burn After Reading is a wee bit of madcap action by and through a whole bunch of dysfunctional characters. The problem for me lies in that the characters themselves are all fairly unlikeable. For a movie like No Country for Old Men, this is not a problem as the story itself is compelling, but in a film like this… well, let’s just say the comparison is not favourable.

There were things to enjoy about this film and I did find myself smiling occasionally (scenes that make me laughing out loud are rare, though many such moments were packed into 40 Year Old Virgin, hence the reason I bought that the instant it was on DVD). On the other hand, I felt no sympathy or empathy for any of the characters in the film (except perhaps Chad), so I wasn’t captivated by what happened on screen.

Verdict: An entertaining movie, yet ultimately easily forgettable, Burn After Reading gets 6 books out of 10.

Oh, and as an aside, I take back some of the things I said about Clare Danes and the demise of My So Called Life. The "making of" documentary on the DVD has opened my eyes to the tortured development of the show, and the apparent lack of confidence it had from the network screening it. I apologise...