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Burn After Reading (2008)

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Average rating: 68%
221439122066
3.5
from 1,163 members
 
Starring: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Studio: UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Run time: 96 mins
Certificate: 15
Collections: 100 Most Wanted, UK top 50 weekly chart
User collections: Some Of My Favourites, 2008 top ten
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Languages: English
Released: 09/02/2009
Also Available on:  Also Available on: BLU-RAY

Showing in 8 cinemas

Brief synopsis of Burn After Reading

A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.

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Critics Reviews

Tom Charity, LOVEFiLM
Take an adulterous couple (Tilda Swinton and George Clooney). Add an angry but oblivious husband who has just been laid off by the CIA (John Malkovich). Throw in a rogue computer disc... read more »

Rating of 3 
	  stars out of 5 David Jenkins, Time Out

With their hangdog mugs now nestled against the bosom of mainstream Hollywood, indie-crossover darlings the Coen... Read more on www.timeout.com

See all 2 Critics Reviews »

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 5 starsGreat Western Timetable

bfaulk44 from Bridgwater [Highly rated reviewer] , 28/04/2008

OK I haven't seen the film yet but this was too good to miss.....sorry to the serious film buffs among you

  61 out of 67 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsOMG cannot wait.

rictheninja rictheninja from Liverpool [Highly rated reviewer] , 11/07/2008

the trailer came on in the previews for mamma mia (oh dear...)

anyhooo, ive been excited ever since :D

i only have to wait a few months :'( lol

seriously though, looks amazing cannot wait :D

  47 out of 49 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsWhat is the point!

AzzM from Stalybridge [Highly rated reviewer] , 17/10/2008

Can people please refrain from reviewing films before they have have seen them. It is completely pointless and i cannot understand why anyone would give a film any rating unless they have seen it. Surely people can be mature enough to wait until they have actually seen it rather than acting like a child and telling us all a film is great without the knowledge of sitting through all of it.

I have left 3 stars to be fair as i have to leave to leave rating for a film I HAVEN'T SEEN to make my point. I am a big fan of the Coen Brothers but it annoys me that people can make judgement from seeing a trailer.

  25 out of 25 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starssuperb................................

williamsgwynfa [Highly rated reviewer] , 30/09/2008

this dvd is superb. Osbourne Cox (played by John Malkovich) is a CIA analyst who quits his job at the agency, after being demoted mainly because of his drinking problem.

He then decides to write a memoir about his life in the CIA.

His wife, Katie Cox (played by Tilda Swinton), wants to divorce Osbourne and, at the counsel of her divorce lawyer, she copies many of his personal and financial files off his computer, and on to an optical disc.

Katie's lover is Treasury agent Harry Pfarrer (played by George Clooney).

The disc eventually finds its way to Hardbodies, a workout gym. An employee of the gym, Chad Feldheimer (played by Brad Pitt) obtains the disc from the gym's custodian, and ascertains that it contains classified government information.

Along with his fellow employee Linda Litzke (played by Frances McDormand), he intends to use the disk to blackmail Osbourne - as Linda needs the money to pay for cosmetic surgery.

They call up Cox in the middle of the night, but he is not receptive to the idea of blackmail.

So when blackmailing him fails, Linda decides to take the information to the Russian embassy.

At the embassy, she hands the disk over to the Russians, promising that she will give more information afterwards, to keep the money rolling in.

Because Linda and Chad don't have any more information, they decide to break into Cox's house, to see what else they can dig up.

Mayhem ensues.................well worth watching !!!!!!!

  24 out of 25 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 1 starsdreadful

A customer from east dulwich , 25/10/2008

Having sat through this drivel for one and a half hours it was a relief when it finished. I find it hard to believe that anyone capable of directing a film of the quality of no country for old men could put their name to this (however I also found the big labowski equally irritating) The plot is directionless, the funny moments few and far between and interspersed with random and pointless violence. Judging by the wall of total silence throughout the supposed comedy film, I wasn’t the only one sorely disappointed.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 starsTruly Madly Idiotic

A customer from Hove , 24/10/2008

I confess, I'm disappointed. I think I'm not alone in saying my anticipation of the movie was great - the Coens are normally reliably interesting, I loved their previous Oscar-winning affair, and there are few actors more watchable than Clooney, particularly alongside the ensemble gathered here. And each performance is engaging - Pitt wonderfully reinvents himself here and Malkovich is superbly unbalanced. The odd set piece and running gag is a hoot.

But this is a really disjointed and lazy affair. It has the feel of a movie that had no forethought whatever, like the Coens got up in the morning, had a shower and a cup of coffee, called up a few of their mates to join them on set, and asked the actors to braintstorm what they were going to do that day. Just for laughs. And maybe that really is what they did. Like a clevely conceived twisty plot? So do I! Sadly, there ain't one here - it's disguised as something interesting and quirky that is really just plain unfathomable, arbitrary, pointless.

And where's the writing? The script relies heavily on F***s and S***ts - on their own, perfectly fine descriptive words, particularly in an emergency or in a moment of heightened passion. Both words have enhanced numerous movies I can think of. Some movies would be much the worse without them. But overused in what should be a highly intelligent movie script time and again because more imaginative writing appears to have gone out of the window... well, it's just lazy and dull really.

If, like me, you have a few questions as the credits roll - mainly, was it entirely necessary to give Brad Pitt such a wastefully indulgent early exit halfway through the movie? - don't worry, by the time you get to the bar to order your pint, you'll have moved on. It's that kind of movie in the end. Kind of engaging for an outing at the cinema, but way too slight to be memorable for long. And anyway, Quantum of Solace is out soon.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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