Burn, Baby, Burn

When I first became a more serious cinema student, I loathed the Coen brothers, especially their comedies. I softened in recent years, and like many other critics, I thought No Country for Old Men was the best movie of 2007. Alas, the next Joel/Ethan work has brought back old feelings.

“What did we learn from this?” a CIA supervisor says to an agent at the end of Burn After Reading, the latest screen adventure for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. “Uh …,” the agent replies. “Not to do it again,” the superior answers.

That exchange also sums up my feelings for this so-called comedy.

The plot - in which goofy gym clerks Chad and Linda (Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand) stumble upon a CD they think includes secrets belonging to disgraced agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) - has the potential for madcap, dizzy, screwball, a la the Coens’ 2003 Intolerable Cruelty. Instead, the brothers layer on an unpleasant divorcing couple (Malkovich and Tilda Swinton), a womanizing Treasury employee (George Clooney, on Round 3 with Joel and Ethan), a plastic-surgery-obsessed online dater (McDormand), and the exercise geek (Pitt); they draw some ludicrous connections; and they expect us to laugh. Nice try.

Oddly, the one person who offers consistent chuckles is Pitt, better known for ponderousness (Babel, Seven Years in Tibet) than popcorn. He understands what the role of Chad needs: gaping mouth, eyes that pop like a cartoon character’s, vigorous sucking of a Jamba Juice smoothie. Meanwhile, old Coen hands such as McDormand and Clooney come across as strident (her) or slimy (him).

I’d scorch this movie memory were it not for two things: Angelina’s other half and the promise of improved cinema. You see, before Burn After Reading began, I saw the trailers for Frost/Nixon and Doubt. Better days are ahead.