Ranking The Coen Brothers Movies From Worst To Best
13. Burn After Reading
Burn After Reading is a black comedy by the Coen Brothers in which two hapless gym employees manage to get their hands on some top level CIA secrets. In classic Coen brothers style their scheme does not go well from there.
The movie is a great laugh for the most part and features some fantastic performances from the likes of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich- Pitt in particular is at his scene stealing best throughout. The writing is predictably strong and the narrative is a bobbing and weaving collection of incidents the likes of which the Coens are masters of.
It is let down somewhat just by the film feeling a little insubstantial in comparison to much of the rest of the Coen’s work. It's clever and enjoyable but it is tough to engage with the story at times. The story at points seems secondary to the jokes, which do mostly land to be fair, but there is a jarring disconnect during a lot of the story.
A thoroughly enjoyable film nonetheless, just not quite one of the peaks of the Coen’s film-making journey.