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Burn After ReadingMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Burn After Reading."
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Metascore®63 out of 100 | Generally favorable reviews

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    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

  • 75
    The Onion (A.V. Club) | Keith Phipps

    This feels like a second-shelf Coen comedy, particularly when compared to their no-less-shaggy "The Big Lebowski." 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
    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
    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

  • 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
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    The clubby, predictably self-amused comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen, has a tricky plot, visual style, er, to burn, but so little heart as to warrant a Jarvik 8. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The movie is overplowed, even if Brad Pitt's debut as a Coen comedy player is eye-catching. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Nothing about the project's execution inspires the feeling that this was ever intended as anything more than a lark, which would be fine if it were a good one. As it is, audience teeth-grinding sets in early and never lets up. Read full review

  • 30
    Time | Richard Corliss

    Either the Coens failed, or I didn't figure out what they're attempting. I must be like Harry or Osborne, pretending to a sophistication I lack. Burn After Reading is a movie about stupidity that left me feeling stupid. Read full review