I saw an advance screening of it tonight. It's easy to like a movie with characters that are relatable. Too bad this movie doesn't have too many. Everyone is so unlikable and all are either ass****s, douches, annoying, or all of the above. Brad Pitt and George Clooney come off almost pretentous. As if, they realize they are being so much more goofy and insane than the usually are and know that they are better than this. But I guess they think that is where the funny is supposed to come from.
This movie also has a bit of violence. I guess that is almost to be expected from the Coens at this point but then again they have quite a few comedies without it so I didn't know whether we'd see some or not. And we do. And I hated it. The first act of random violence, shocks you so much that I can't even comprehend how the hell it happened. And the second act of violence really bummed me out and was so overly-violent just for violence's sake that my girlfriend and I did something I have never done in 19 years of my life...walked out of the movie.
I found the plot to be getting a little out of hand. And I couldn't figure out why the characters were doing what they were doing or where the story itself was going. But there is a single scene with J.K. Simmons that makes you realize that you are not really supposed to. Which was a funny scene in itself and relieved me that I wasn't the only one not "getting it" but then again, it also made everything seem so ridiculous and pointless.
The movie did have it's funny moments where I found myself laughing. But with unlikable characters doing stupid things all movie long, I felt I was wasting my time not being entertained, but instead, really annoyed and aggrivated. I gave Burn After Reading an hour and a half of my time and couldn't even wait out the last half hour[or whatever it would have been] to see how anything turned out. I just couldn't.
I hated Burn After Reading.
Saw another advance screening tonight. This one turned out a lot better than Burn After Reading did. This is one of my favorite movies so far this year. Easily relatable and completely likable. This movie has heart and just makes you feel so damn good. Random applause actually broke out at one point. I had a grin ear to ear for the final 5 minutes of this movie. I just had a great time watching this movie and cannot recommend it enough. Go see it when it comes out October 3rd. It's a good date movie. Plus, who doesn't like Michael Cera?
