Burn After Reading

The one Coens brothers movie where all the stars aligned (figuratively AND literally) to create the perfect comedy. Their comic sensibilities have always shared DNA with The Simpsons — farcical with hilariously stupid characters and at times a satirical outlook on whatever given topic they choose to tackle (in this case, espionage and bureaucracy) — and it's never been more full-tilt than Burn After Reading. That being said, it's also far more bleak and grim than you'd think for a movie with a comparison like that. While it's pretty much all played for comedy, look deep within and you'll find a certain pathos travelling alongside all these characters. They don't exactly ignite much pity in me, but they're clearly portraits of broken people trying to find some semblance of meaning in life. However they also suck, and the Coens treat them as cruelly as possible — maybe their cruelest film not named A Serious Man — and it just might be the funniest movie ever made? I had a feeling upon rewatch this would skyrocket in the Coens ranking but I didn't think it'd become maybe a new all-time favourite. This is every actor's greatest performance save for Tilda Swinton who's been given the straight man character to the angry Malkovich and pathetically suave Clooney, and therefore hasn't much to work with to really show off like the rest of the cast. The undisputed King of all this is Brad Pitt who is putting on a clinic — if the Academy actually had any balls they'd retroactively award him for his performance here. Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite scene in any movie ever is a certain one involving a Mr. Pitt and a Mr. Clooney, and you know damn well I looped that shit like 5 or 6 times. Run, don't walk, to Burn After Reading.