Burn After Reading, It’s Good To Have You Back Mr Coen’s

I finally got to watch Burn After Reading this week and what a great film it was. I’m a huge Coen Brothers fan and it’s good to see them back on form after the dip with Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers. After the amazing No Country For Old Men I was very enthusiastic to see this, it looked like a return to the comedy highs of Big Lebowski and it was.

The highlight of the film by far was Brad Pitt, I think he is such an underrated actor, he has played some great roles and he really shines in here. This isn’t going to be a film for everyone, it’s very Coen, with some very dark moments mixed in with the comedy and the ending is well, I won’t say too much about it.

This really is going to be a love/hate film though, it’s not mainstream in the way that Ladykillers was, it’s riddled with the Coen’s style of comedy and can be pretty silly and random in places. Having said that it is possibly more approachable than something like Lebowski, my other half can’t really watch that but she did watch and thoroughly enjoy this.

What I love about the Coen’s is the way they bring the best out of an actor, before O Brother Where Art Thou? I had a certain opinion of George Clooney that wasn’t exactly positive, but they way he’s embraced the roles they’ve given him and been happy to play the characters, warts and all has totally changed my opinion of him and it’s the same with Pitt, they know what he does well and they’ve made the most of it.

I got to see it on Blu-Ray, but as it was a one night rental, I’m afraid I didn’t get a chance to view the extras, but on the grounds of the film alone I would recommend you give it a go, if you’re a fan you’ll love it, if not then who knows, you may still enjoy the slightly dark silliness.