96 minutes
Rated R
Universal Studios & Focus Features
$34.95

Feature: C

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is a miserable man who is introduced as he is being fired by the CIA. His wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton) has tired of him and his antics, but mostly because he’s home now and she has to try a little harder to maintain the secrecy of her affair with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). Pfarrer seems to be haunted by his own personal demons as the average slime bucket, and suspects someone is following him. He lies, he cheats and preys on insecure women on the internet. Which brings us to Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), a struggling personal trainer with no money, no man and is obsessed with keeping a youthful appearance. Litzke’s boss Ted (Richard Jenkins) discourages these ideas of hers because he holds a deep affection for her. Litzke’s sidekick, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) encourages her ploys but both of them are like bumbling clowns, unable to get out of each other’s way. What do these two groups of people have in common? Absolutely nothing but their paths converge in a silly but genuinely entertaining way concerning a compact disc of information.

The plot shifts into overdrive once Pfarrer and Feldheimer do meet briefly and at that point the story is driving without brakes. Cox inner and outer alcoholic shows up as he begins to catch on, Litzke becomes a reckless wreck and yes, the CIA is still involved. I know not what inspired Ethan and Joel Coen to come up with this film. It’s an odd, yet comedic effort on par with earlier collaboration on Intolerable Cruelty or the Ladykillers.

Is there a point to the Coen’s latest film? Are they trying to say something about the CIA or personal trainers specifically? I doubt it. I think they just tried to take two different worlds and put them in a very bizarre situations. The two groups of people would never come up in a conversation otherwise. It does show how desperation and a lack of money can drive someone to cast aside logic and act stupidly. But are you really acting stupidly if you are inherently stupid, or are you just acting within the limits of your capacity? And is this what we have to look forward to in our forties?

Still, I enjoyed the what Jenkins, Swinton, and Pitt brought to the film. McDormand, Clooney, and Malkovich do not disappoint, but do they really ever? The story however may not be enough to satisfy film buffs. It’s like biting into a gorgeous apple turnover covered in powdered sugar and tasting only a few chunks of fruit. The right taste is there but it just needs more, a lot more.

Presentation C+

First thing I do now every time I watch a Universal blu-ray is go to the set-up screen and turn OFF the button sounds. Packaging is basic and so is the menu as far as Subtitles are available in English SDH (Subtitled for the Dead and Hard-of-Hearing, Spanish, and French.

Video: B+

Burn After Reading exhibits more bright scenes than dark ones. The 1080P/AVC-MPEG 4 transfer has lots of detail to view and some scenes are set up with lots of depth to them. Nothing particular is distracting or artificial to complain as far as the transfer goes. But I’ll add that there’s nothing to marvel at either. I will say that this is the first film that shows Pitt has significantly aged since his more notable landmark roles, and high definition does nothing to hide that. It does play nicely into portraying a middle-aged physical trainer who is aware of how to keep young but really has only succeeded in keeping his mind young at heart.

Audio: B-

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is a bit wasted here since there’s no showcase scene to speak of where all that juice could be put to use. All is quiet on Subwoofer Lane, as is Surrounds Street. It’s almost all dialogue and music from the center and fronts with some panning effects as cars drive by. Normally I expect most Universal DTS-HD tracks to have a much deft and weight and this plays like a small film on all levels but that was the original design of the film itself. It doesn’t aspire to be much more than a chatty film and it accomplishes that with no technical deficiencies.

Extras: D

Either the Coen Brothers just despise the home format of films or they or the studio just does not want to put any money or effort in doing real extras. Not that this is a film that you’d expect to have 9 hours of footage, but something that resembles a sincere embrace of the blu-ray or DVD would be nice or perhaps yet another deluxe release of the Big Lebowski.

What we do find on Burn After Reading are three extras sliced from a single EPK (for some cable movie promotion channel I’m sure). Why all three clips were not just condensed into on 20 minute clip is beyond me. Anyway, Finding the Burn (5:31) is mostly the Coen Brothers finding a way to describe what the films is about. DC Insiders Run Amuch (12:24) speaks briefly about casting Pitt, McDormand, Malkovich, and the set design. I don’t understand why they isolated Welcome Back George (2:51) when it’s clear it belongs in with the previous feature because the only people who contribute to it are the Coen Brothers and the costume designer. It’s about trying to dork Clooney up in normal clothes and the Coens repeatedly writing idiot roles for him.

BD-Live features

The only thing offered as far as high def exclusives are is the insignificant My Scenes features where you can clip out your favorite scenes and post them in your BD-Live network to your friends. Even the patented Universal U-Control is even absent on this disc. Sorry folks, there’s just not much here to speak of.

Overall Shock Value: C+

Burn After Reading is a simple film about middle-aged simpletons in two completely unrelated professions acting very unprofessional. After the cerebral cat and mouse chase of No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers take a bizarre trip with this dark and twisted comedy that’s a little light on calories compared to what’s on the rest of their menu; but it definitely belongs there because I don’t? believe it belongs anywhere else. While it doesn’t make an overwhelming impression. It’s the type of Coen Brother film that will probably get a nice following on cable television and be one of those movies you can’t help but watch over and over again whenever it’s on. The short running time could make it easily into many half or full-day blu-ray Coen marathons for completists but a sparse selection of extras, it’s a rental recommendation for everyone else.