Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Effects: NA
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Watch this if you liked: "Blood Simple", "Raising Arizona"

Burn after watching, more like.

In a frustrating development since their Oscars Best Picture movie "No Country For Old Men", the celebrated Coen Bros break every Fargo-favouring heart with a very uncharacteristically standoffish effort called "Burn After Reading".

Although all the trademark irony and black humour are evidently projected, the farcical plot does not marry well with the usual exaggerated dialogue and comic characters, resulting in a non entirely directionless but very sterile story that cannot endear itself to anyone other than those who give complete adulation to Joel and Ethan's works.

Is it funny? Mostly, no. The characters will give you a giggle or two but the slow-building repressed humour we have come to love about the two directors gets lost in a goose hunt of a story, only to be painfully salvaged in patches by the excellent cast who really deserved something better. The versatile Brad Pitt has been singled out for this refreshing performance as a fitness freak doofus, complete with chewing gum and bad pop songs. A madman of a CIA agent delightfully played by John Malkovich kicks off the false chase, joined by another agent played by George Clooney who looks like he's got something stuck up his behind the whole time (a good thing, really). Frances McDormand doesn't get the lines she should have as an insecure, surgery-starved dimwit. They were already set up. It's a waste.

Worse, if you're unfortunate enough to have to catch this in a scissor-happy territory, trust that the sixty odd F-words in the film are sorely missing from the film, adding to the regrettable discolouration of the story. Swearing never seemed more important before.

The entire feature felt like Tilda Swinton's face - beautifully unique, otherworldly and yet ultimately cold. Either that, or all the sex toy remarks and alcohol-driven cursing effectively destroyed the movie when it was left on the censorship floor.

Cinema Online, 18 February 2009