Mistaken identities, misplaced desires, rocky marriages and the self-important, semi-paranoid state of life within the Washington. D.C., beltway combine to propel a near-meaningless act — a computer disc is accidentally dropped at a gym — into a roundelay of betrayal, law-breaking and bloody violence. This light dark comedy from the Coen brothers feels like an amuse bouche — a tasty trifle to be popped between the filmmakers’ heavier dramatic courses. (Heads are still being scratched over their last blood-soaked brooder, No Country for Old Men.) A tip-top cast keeps Burn‘s farcical plot afloat: Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, George Clooney and a loosey-goosey Brad Pitt. Most play this silliness straight, though John Malkovich indulges his histrionic side as the high-strung intelligence analyst who sets the whole mess a-rollin’. It’s all good fun and well played, and if the ending has some loose threads, J.K. Simmons’ perfect deadpan delivery will at least leave you laughing. Starts Fri., Sept. 12. (AH)
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2008.
