When Brad Pitt and George Clooney come together in a movie it is almost an obligation for any American to go and view the handsome duo together. Their chemistry in any movie is truly a sight to see. However, in the Coen Brothers’ “Burn After Reading” I think that anybody would have been completely and utterly disappointed when it came to being satisfied in viewing the two actors. The characters that Clooney and Pitt play completely lack any sort of intelligent depth which makes the movie go by really slow. Pitt’s character seems to only know two four letter words of profanity, while Clooney’s character simply is, to say it bluntly, a man whore. The Coen Brothers can be known for their Academy Award winning work in, “No Country for Old Men”, “Fargo” and even their Oscar nomination for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” however this movie was far from academy work. After an uptight Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) loses his job at the CIA office in Washington D.C., he opts to begin to write a memoir to deal with the situation at hand. When his memoir gets into the hands of two gym workers, played by Brad Pitt and Francis McDormand, “Ozzy” begins to loose his wits when he realizes the idiocy of the people he is dealing with. Meanwhile, Linda (McDormand) is suffering her own version of midlife crisis and seeks to find a significant other throughout the movie, Clooney being one of them. Clooney, playing a confused man is tangled into many aspects in the movie, which make it a little tolerable to view. The movie does get a few laughs out of you showing the audience the insignificant need of secret government agencies (the CIA), however the dry comedy doesn’t really do anything for the storyline. With an occasional laugh from the comedic relief of Pitt, one must wonder during the movie if it is ever going to pick up and move a little faster. It is easy to wonder this when as an audience member you are simply watching the characters go back and forth and talk about what they are all doing and why they are doing it; it is almost a little repetitive. The movie portrays a satire on the CIA and how it is run through the blank minded CIA officer (David Rasche) and also gets a little juicy with lustful affairs that take place between the characters.

This is simply a rental; don’t waste your money folks.

Vanessa Johnson can be reached at [email protected]