** 1/2

Burn After Reading

I could write something pithy like "Burn After Reading" should have been titled "Burn After Filming" but that would be unfair. This is NOT a great movie. But it is an interesting one, thanks mostly to the performances of Brad Pitt, John Malkovitch, David Rasche and J.K. Simmons.

 The story begins with CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovitch) quitting his job rather than accept a demotion to the State department. He decides to get even with the agency by writing a tell all book. What he doesn't know is that his wife Katie (Tilda Swinson) is planning to divorce him and has copied all his files from the computer in an attempt to get a hold of all their finances. When a copy of the disc is lost at a health club, it comes into the possession of Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormond).

Convinced they have something big, they first attempt to blackmail Cox for the return of the disc. Litzke is desperate to get $40,000 to pay for cosmetic surgery she feels she MUST have, saying "This old body has taken me about as far as it can." Feldheimer wants the money because...well, just because.

When Cox balks, they decide to try and sell the disc to the Russians.

In the meantime, Harry Pfarrar (George Clooney) is a US Marshall married to a children's book author Sandy (Elizabeth Marvel) but is having an affair with Katie Cox. But he also starts to date Litzke. He becomes involved with the disc in a totally unexpected way, while having absolutely no clue as to what's going on.

Just as clueless is the CIA, which has been keeping an eye on Cox. Some of the film's funniest scenes involved Cox's former CIA boss (David Rasche) trying to tell his superior (J.K. Simmons) what's going on, despite not really knowing what is going on!

Brad Pitt tends to steal the show as Chad. He makes the character even dumber than Keanu Reeves and is much more amusing. Oh, how he must entertain Angelina when the kids have gone to bed and they are eating Cheetos and drinking Diet Dr. Pepper at night!

For the most part, Clooney is not as successful as playing dumb as Pitt. While Pitt creates a full character, Clooney mostly seems to be walking through the role a good part of the film. He's a US Marshall who never seems to work, runs a lot, and is a feckless womanizer. His big comic moment I guess is when he reveals what can only be called an aerobic device so his wife can pleasure herself while exercising.

Frances McDormond is more of a disappointment. Always good at creating interesting characters, I think sheis better playing smart than dumb. Here she's a rather ditzy and empty health club employee who dreams that plastic surgery will improve her life. She has a string of stupid on-line encounters, ignoring the nice guy boss Ted Teffon (Richard Jenkins) who has an obvious crush on her. He's very solid and is one of the most likeable characters in the film.

As Cox, John Malkovitch seems to play one note throughout the film: anger. He's good at it, and next to Brad Pitt is probably the most interesting character in the story, but his constant one-note anger does not wear well. The guy was a top CIA anaylst. Shouldn't there be more to him than the angry guy who didn't notice his wife was having an affair and was about to leave him? When the blackmailers call him, shouldn't he have star 69ed them?

 Any script that relies on goofy names (Cox, Litzke, Feldheimer,Ted Teffon) is already suspect. I also wonder about the realism of having McDormond and Jenkins as health club trainers. They really don't look the part (while Pitt fits it comfortably). There is a curious lack of female hotties in this (apologies to McDormond and Swinson) now that I think of it. 

In watching "Burn After Reading" one gets the feeling, similar to the "Ocean's 11" remake that the film is basically an excuse to have fun with a bunch of your cool friends. That's not to say its terrible or a mess. But frankly I wouldn't care if I never saw it again--something I would not say about the Coen Brothers' "Fargo", "Blood Simple", "Raising Arizona", "No Country for Old Men", etc. Clooney had more success with their "O Brother Where Art Thou?" than this.

All in all, its not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, especially thanks to Pitt and the CIA guys.