Burn After Reading
Headline: ** Irony Abounds **
Title: BURN AFTER READING
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES:
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VVV
Sex: SS
Nudity: NN
RATING: R
RELEASE: September 12, 2008
TIME: 96 minutes
STARRING: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, and JK Simmons
DIRECTOR: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
PRODUCERS: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Robert Graf
WRITERS: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Focus Features
CONTENT: (PaPa, H, B, LLL, VVV, SS, NN, AA, D, MM) Strong mixed pagan worldview with some humanist qualities and a biblical quality that implicitly points out the sinfulness of the human race, in a comical, ironic way; 106 obscenities (mostly "f" words and the "s" word including about 11 "f" words in song over the final credits), nine strong profanities and 17 light exclamatory profanities; some extreme but brief bloody violence includes man accidentally shot in head in a relative close up, man tries to shoot another man, man breaks into house by busting glass on back door, and man hatchets another man to death in a medium shot; strong sexual content includes depicted fornication in one scene, implied adultery in other scenes, and a large sex toy is demonstrated twice; realistic pink-colored rubber phallus is shown twice in demonstration of a large sex toy, rear female nudity in plastic surgeon's office and upper male nudity; alcohol use and drunkenness; smoking; and, blackmail, cheating, divorce proceedings, paranoia, American couple tries to sell alleged secrets to the Russians, Internet dating, repeated uncontrollable anger to the point of violence in one scene, and man gets angry at Mormon CIA agent who tells him that he has a drinking problem but movie shows later than man does indeed have a drinking problem.
GENRE: Black Comedy/Comic Thriller
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Adults
Please address your comments to:
James Schamus, President
Focus Features/Rogue Pictures
A Division of NBC Universal and General Electric
65 Bleecker St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 539-4000
Fax: (212) 539-4099
Website: www.focusfeatures.com
SUMMARY: BURN AFTER READING is a black comedy of errors from the Coen Brothers about two losers who try to blackmail a disgruntled CIA analyst whose wife is having an affair. BURN AFTER READING has many goofy characters caught in funny situations, but the movie contains abundant foul language, brief gruesome violence and some crude sexual content that's definitely over the top and gratuitous or unnecessary.
IN BRIEF:
BURN AFTER READING is a foray into black comedy by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan. The movie features mega stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt in major supporting roles. The story tells the comical, violent results when a disgruntled CIA analyst's memoirs are found by two losers working at a fitness center in Washington, D.C. They hope the CIA analyst will give them a big reward, but when he angrily refuses, they try to blackmail him. When that doesn't work, they try to sell the memoir to the Russians. The CIA analyst's wife, her secret lover, and the owner of the gym get involved in the shenanigans.
BURN AFTER READING has many goofy characters caught in funny situations, but an abundant number of "f" words sprinkle the dialogue. There is strong sexual content as well as two spurts of extreme bloody violence. Though the ultimate message of the movie seems to be a comical warning about the sinfulness of the human race, the movie's obscene, offensive content obscures that positive message. The Coen Brothers could have toned down the obscene content greatly and still created a movie that's just as funny.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
