by Daniel Cote

Created on: December 29, 2008

2008 might go down as the year of the comedy movie as there are various comedies that received rave reviews from critics. Some of the best comedies of 2008 include Tropic Thunder, Step Brothers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Pineapple Express, Role Models, and Burn After Reading. Of these movies I believe Burn After Reading is the best comedy of 2008.

Burn After Reading stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, and Tilda Swinton, and is directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen. The Cohen brothers have also directed such comedic masterpieces as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy, and Raising Arizona.

The main premise behind Burn After Reading is that two gym employees, Chad Feldheimer played by Brad Pitt and Linda Litzke played by Frances McDormand, come into possession of a disk that contains the memoirs of a CIA agent, played by John Malkovich, and attempt to sell it. This movie is unique and if you are not a fan of the Cohen brothers and their past comedies, chances are this movie is not for you. They use a unique type dialogue and create awkward characters, which in turn creates a unique type of movie.

What makes this movie so great are the actors in it. When you think of Brad Pitt and George Clooney working together most people think of the Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen. This movie shows how diverse these actors are and the different types of characters they are capable of playing. Brad Pitt typically plays a character that is in control and in a power position. However, Pitt's character in this movie is more simplistic and innocent than in his past movies.

Like most Cohen brother movies, this movie takes a simple situation and turns it into something much more complex and complicated than it should be. You would think that someone finding a disk with a former CIA agent's memoirs on it would be a simple case of returning it to the rightful owner, but not when you're dealing with Joel and Ethan Cohen. This movie features characters with different purposes and the Cohen brothers are able to elegantly move from each character's situation seamlessly to bring the movie together.

There were plenty of entertaining comedies made in 2008, but Burn After Reading was the best. It featured the best cast of characters, the most creative plot, and two of the best directors in Joel and Ethan Cohen. If you haven't seen it already I suggest you do so at your earliest convenience.

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