Because it's a Coen brothers film before it's anything else, this is about as dark and nihilistic as comedies are allowed to get before the laughter dies bitterly on your lips.Read Full Review »
80
NewsWeek: David Ansen
That's the paradox that makes this parade of folly so much fun: it feels as if everyone involved is having a high old time, and their enthusiasm is contagious.Read Full Review »
75
Philadelphia Inquirer: Steven Rea
A goofy screwball romp that affords a gaggle of A-listers the chance to hambone around in antic style.Read Full Review »
75
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Roger Ebert
The characters are zany, the plot coils upon itself with dizzy zeal, and the roles seem like a perfect fit for the actors -- yes, even Brad Pitt, as Chad, a gum-chewing, fuzzy-headed physical fitness instructor. I've always thought of him as a fine actor, but here he reveals a dimension that, shall I say, we haven't seen before.Read Full Review »
75
ReelViews: James Berardinelli
This is a thriller with a high quotient of comedic elements or, if you prefer, a comedy with a high quotient of thriller elements. As is always the case with a production of Joel & Ethan, it's difficult to classify, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.Read Full Review »
75
USA Today: Claudia Puig
It's consistently funny -- with witty dialogue and offbeat banter that stays in your head for days.Read Full Review »
75
ROLLING STONE: Peter Travers
It would be no country for movie lovers without the Coens. They still manage to run unmuzzled while the rest of Hollywood runs scared.Read Full Review »
70
Salon.com: Andrew O'Hehir
Beneath its movie star clowning, its awful-but-relatable heroine and its lightweight gags, Burn After Reading poses an implicit challenge to its viewers: Can you figure out why this comedy isn't very funny? Could that be because its central proposition is that the people in the theater are just as stupid, just as gullible, just as eager to be deceived as the people on the screen?Read Full Review »
70
Village Voice: J. Hoberman
The Coens return to familiar territory with the parody thriller Burn After Reading, a characteristically supercilious and crisply shot clown show filled with cartoon perfs and predicated on extravagant stupidity.Read Full Review »
50
Washington Post: Neely Tucker
Oh, the high-octane cast works hard. But there's nothing to suggest anybody off camera tried that hard, which is fatal to a Coen outing.Read Full Review »
Hotmail
