threevue

Two-thirdsvue of us watched Burn After Reading the other day. Our take(s):

Mark:
Hmm. Hm hm hm. It seems like exactly 50% of the Coen bros. films are absolutely brilliant, and the other half…a little less than that. This one is the latter. I just found that there were many more things I disliked about the movie than I liked. For example, the characters were shallow, and although each had their own distinct personality, they were all very predictable. It also drug on far too long, and I didn’t buy the conclusion at all.

Still, though, it’s good, just not as good as many of their other films. It’s not a must-see, but it’s definitely a should-see.

Russ:
Typical Coen brothers fare, which means it was pretty awesome. What I liked best about the film is that it maintained its sense of humor, even in the face of some pretty crazy scenes. As expected, things go from bad to worse as the story unfolds; but the film never gets ugly (like in Fargo or Raising Arizona).

It’s definitely a must-see, but in a growing world of super-expensive theater tickets, I’d say you can hold off for a rental.