Movie Review: Coens continue hot streak with ‘Burn After Reading’

All you cinema seekers out there have a big decision to make at the multiplex this weekend.

Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino are back together again and those guys who wrote “No Country for Old Men” have another one out. What to do on a Sunday afternoon?

Well, there’s a pattern developing with the Coen brothers; after a little film called “Fargo” came “The Big Lebowski.” After NCFOM we get “Burn After Reading,” another zany, charming work of madness that will resonate with you and most definitely join the ranks of your DVD collection.

“Righteous Kill” might not even be rent-worthy.

John Malkovich gives his most Malkovichian performance since “Being John Malkovich” as Osborne Cox, a lifelong CIA agent who has just been demoted “because he has a drinking problem.”

So he decides to quit, and much to the chagrin of his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton has such an odd appearance), write his memoirs. In a series of events, a disc containing part of those recollections ends up on the floor of a Washington, D.C. area gym called Hard Bodies.

Unscrupulous gym employees Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand is certified gold under the Coens) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt is the leader of this manic parade) happen upon the top secret disc and see visions of dollar signs dancing in their vapid little heads. Litzke needs money for multiple plastic surgeries that she’s just found out her HMO won’t cover and Chad’s just plain eager to do anything.

The doofus duo implement a plan to blackmail Cox and the initial phone call they make to him is hysteria-inducing.

At the initial blackmail meeting, Chad rides his bicycle (though he does exchange his usual Hard Bodies collared shirt for a suit) to meet Cox to try to get $50,000 in exchange for the sensitive material. Once that plan fails, they try the Russian Embassy next and you can imagine the problems that spawns.

In a “Magnolia” type of way, everyone is connected to each other, but in this instance, it’s because they are all sleeping together. George Clooney is the M&Ms in this ensemble trail mix (and pokes a bit of fun at his award-winning performance in “Syriana”) with his character Harry Pfarrer, the mysterious, womanizing Treasury Department analyst.

Harry is married, already sleeping with Mrs. Cox and likes to meet women on the personals site Bewithmedc.com, where he eventually starts an affair with Litzke. He’s also completely paranoid (like everyone becomes in the film, paving the way for a plethora of parody) that someone is following him at all times, and is building a contraption in his basement, which once unveiled is a shock. The awe moments come a bit later on and, wow, are they doozies.

“So what did we learn?” a CIA Superior recounting events asks in the end. That Joel and Ethan Coen plots go round and round and where they stop nobody knows, but as BAR unfolds, the absurdity of it all is sweet.

Almost all films a la Coen are like a really fine wine — they improve with time and multiple viewings.

And the best part comes afterward when you’re pondering what The Dude or Chad really meant. Price of a ticket to see “Burn After Reading:” $8.75. Countless discussions of said film for years to come: Priceless.

Adrienne Mackey is the film critic for the Green Valley News.

The Details

3/4 Stars

Comedy/Crime

Run time: 1 hours, 36 minutes.

Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence.

Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton.

Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen.

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen.