Go figure . . .By John DeSando, WCBE's It's Movie Time
"Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies." Jane Austen
Go figure: The acting ensemble of the year and two acclaimed directors can't save a movie dud. The Coen brothers' Burn After Reading is a forced comedy about a couple of fitness center workers (played by Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a CIA memoir disc and attempt to extort $50,000 from the author, Osborne Cox (John Malkovich).
I say "forced" because even the best performance, Brad Pitt as knuckleheaded Hardbodies worker Chad Feldheimer, is wrenched out of an actor better suited to non comedy. Even George Clooney, who sharpened his comic timing in Three Kings, plays smarmy a bit too goofy and sleazy for my taste.
Long gone are the outrageous characters of my fav Coen comedies Raising Arizona, Hudsucker Proxy, and Fargo?all of whom seemed to be underplaying compared to the attempts here.
But it's Malkovich who takes the prize for the actor who brings his acidic, loud-mouthed, sneering persona into every role. Frances McDormand is nowhere near the shrewd good ol' girl in Fargo.
Respite from the non subtle comes in the screwball comedic exchanges between Hardbodies employee Linda Litzke (McDormand) and Chad and a comical denouement with CIA brass scratching their heads over the absurd activities.
I just wish the Coens had brought their quirky, iconoclastic attitude into this one.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, which can be heard streaming at www.wcbe.org Fridays at 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm and on demand anytime. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com