Netflix R-Rated Crime Comedy Is A-List Directing Duo’s Most Overlooked Movie
The dynamic films the Coen brothers have given film audiences in the past four decades make the filmmakers industry icons in their own right. Armed with the uncanny ability to blend in multiple genres into a singular production, Joel and Ethan Coen’s creations can be equally hilarious and philosophical (The Big Lebowski), fantastic and dramatic (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), or neo-noir/gangster (Miller’s Crossing). One of the Coen brother’s most underrated productions is Burn After Reading, a 2008 black comedy that is now waiting for a new generation of fans on Netflix.
Malkovich’s Misplaced Memoirs
Burn After Reading follows multiple complicated characters as an accidentally discarded CD-R leads to a naive blackmail plot, embedded Russian agents, and mistaken identities, all of which crash together brilliantly when a desperate gym trainer tries in vain to raise funds for plastic surgery.
When CIA analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is demoted at the agency for his uncontrolled drinking problem, he quits and begins writing a memoir. Disgusted by this turn of events, his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) files for divorce and unknowingly copies their financial records onto the CD-R that holds drafts of her husband’s writings. Burn After Reading sees the law clerk from Katie’s attorney’s office accidentally drop the CD-R in a gym locker room, leading vapid and dim gym trainers Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) to find it.
Botched Blackmail Backfires
Believing that they have possession of top-secret government files, Chad and Linda contrive a blackmail plot to get money from Osbourne for the disc’s return. Linda is wanting to use her share of the money for cosmetic surgery, but her efforts are thwarted when the attempt to extort money from Osbourne severely backfires. Chad and Linda take the disc to the Russian embassy, where they believe they can sell it to spies.
A Hilarious Comedy Of Errors
Burn After Reading sees the quickly evaporating scheme of Chad and Linda further complicated by U.S. Marshall Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) and the increasing tension between Osborne and his estranged wife. The movie forces the characters to all cross paths in the most serendipitous of ways, leading to two of the funniest kill scenes in any Coen brothers production.
Expert Pacing For An Extortion Plot
Over the entire course of Burn After Reading, rapid character development and witty dialogue draw audiences in and keep them engaged for the duration of its 96-minute running time. In true Coen brothers style, every character introduced has a backstory that is equally complicated as it is ludicrous. But the writer/director duo always finds the perfect performers to bring their words to life on the big screen, this production being no exception.
Stream The Underrated Coen Brothers Film On Netflix
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Malkovich’s portrayal of the frustrated and drunk Osbourne is the actor’s greatest role since the 1999 film Being John Malkovich. Coen brothers regular Frances McDormand gives the film one of her most remarkable performances ever, only being eclipsed by her Academy Award-winning Marge Gunderson in the Coen’s 1996 film, Fargo.
You can catch the classic Coen brothers film Burn After Reading streaming with a subscription to Netflix.
