The following is the story of my weekend; I had a really good weekend. The moral of this story is that you don't realize how much you actually miss someone until you remember why it is you miss them. There is a sub-plot to my story as well and that is that the only thing that should be burned after watching "Burn After Reading," is your own eyes for watching such negligent filth. This is a very sad (and not in the sob cry funeral type of way, but more in the "this is a piece of shit" type of way) and very obviously contrived excuse of a comitragedy. I could go over what was specifically wrong with this movie, but really it doesn't even deserve that. What I will say though is that towards the end of the movie, the two CIA agents or whoever the fuck they are are talking and say something like, "So what did we learn from all of this?" and the other responds saying, "I'm not sure, sir. I guess nothing." I personally translated this to mean, "Hey you stupid fuck, we just successfully wasted two hours of your life by telling you a story that we LITERALLY JUST ADMITTED had no meaning and was completely and utterly pointless." Thank you Joel and Ethan Coen, and by thank you I mean go jump off of a building tall enough to seriously injure you but not quite kill you. A bit punitive, but I don't like people wasting my time. P.S. One important caveat, No matter how bad Burn After Reading is, it will still always be better than Something's Gotta Give ;)
Something's Gotta Give is just a wee bit over your head. One day, when you reach a certain maturity level, you will appreciate it. It's actually one of my faves...not that that had anything to do with why you decided to bash that movie. HA!
Good weekend though, I'll agree with that. Also about Burn After Reading. Why did we watch it all the way through? I guess I thought the ending would save it. Then I realized, the movie doesn't have an ending. It just stops. Horrible movie.
Brian, I agree. Something's Gotta Give = Terrible. Who wants to see Diane Keaton full frontal??? I almost puked (On a side note, what is it with putting Jack Nicholson in movis where they have gross nudity? Example: Kathy Bates in About Schmidt. 'Nuff said there). Why not Amanda Peet?! Because it wouldn't be "shocking". Anyways, Keanu needs to stop making these kind of movies. He's a terrible actor and he didn't make an exception for this film. If you want a good Romantic Comedy with Jack Nicholson watch As Good As It Gets. That is a quality movie.
On another note, I loved Burn After Reading. It wasn't pointless, it was just Coen Bros. style humor. Sure, there wasn't a whole lot of content to the film but I found Brad Pitt and George Clooney to be fucking hilarious. I also just about pissed my self when J.K. Simmons says, "Well that was a cluster-fuck" (looking at it analytically: describing the entire movie). Not the best movie ever, but I would argue for it.
There are most certainly funny parts, like when Brad Pitt is talking to John Malkovich and says, "Osbourn Cox, I thought you might be concerned about the security. The security . . . . of your shit. Osbourn Cox." That, I must say was pretty funny. I just think that Burn After Reading was a significant step backwards for the Coen brothers especially after there 2007 effort in No Country for Old Men. I'm glad we agree on Something's Gotta Give haha. I haven't seen As Good As It Gets but I just might have to check that out now that you've said good things about it.
i hope i never reach the maturity level to watch Something's Gotta Give
oh, screw you all.
Aw... Amy... I'd be happy to help out with that but I don't know how Brian would feel about that ;) (I'm clearly not mature enough to watch Something's Gotta Give).
Brain, do watch As Good As It Gets. It's hilarious (though it does get a little sappy). Jack Nicholson plays a guy with OCD and has the hots for Helen Hunt who plays a waitress at the restaraunt he has to eat at every morning. I think my favorite line from the movie is, "What happened to your queer party friends?" (You'll have to watch it to get the context).
Back to "Burn After Reading", I disagree to a high degree with your statement that it's a, "a significant step backwards for the Coen brothers". You have, in essence, just said that a piece of art wasn't quality because it isn't on the same level as the artist's masterpiece. How many Coen Brothers films have you seen? I thought the Burn kicked the shit out of most of their other stuff. Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Intolerable Cruelty? I would much rather watch Burn again before watching these again (not saying these are bad, just that I value Burn much more). It's a toss up for me with Burn, Miller's Crossing, Ladykillers, and O Brother Where Art Thou. So, in my opinion, the 7 films of the other 12 films the Coen Brothers have made are either below or on par with Burn After reading (No Country was the one film that was much better). Honestly, not a lot EVER happens in Coen-made dry comedies. Burn After Reading is an acquired taste for sure but if you like Coen Brothers films, this should be considered a good one.