The Coen Brothers head back to comedy with a vengeance, but are we talking Lebowski standards here?
The Coen Brothers surprising hitNo Country For Old Menwas a marked departure from their traditional, well-known style.
Specifically, black comedy jokes.
Fortunately, the results were brilliant.
Now theyre moving back to their comedy bend with their latest,Burn After Reading.
Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is a low-level CIA analyst with a bit of a drinking problem.
Between the two of them theres about one brain to share, and its not a very smart brain.
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This cast is brilliant.
George Clooney finally has a great role to focus his omnipresent smarminess.
Frances McDormand is brilliant as the single-minded Linda.
Its a wild, unpredictable thrill ride.
Its a bit like a live-action cartoon.
While the plot is a bit aimless, the film itself is edited very tightly.
There are a lot of the expected Coen Brothers film tricks and lots of sharp editing.
The material is very funny, as well, and the characters seem to balance one another.
Swintons haughty bitch seems to balance out McDormands eager insecure personal trainer.
Ditto Clooneys smarmy prat with Harriss polite and shy manager.
This is very much a movie about diametric opposition.
In spite of everything, the movie still moves briskly, and most importantly, its funny.
Its just a wickedly funny, odd caper film the likes of which the Coens are famous for.
Its nothing groundbreaking or staggering; its just a comfortable return to form.
The Coen Brothers can take the grimmest incident and make it funny.
Ron Hogan is currently writing his mem-WAHs.
Find more by Ron at his blog,Subtle Bluntness, and daily atShaktronicsandPopFi.
Rating:
4 out of 5
