Synopsis:
A dark spy-comedy from Academy Award winners
Joel and Ethan Coen. An ousted CIA official’s
(Academy Award nominee John Malkovich) memoir
accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise
gym employees intent on exploiting their find.
The Freak's
Rating: B : Some of my favorite films over
the last decade were created by the Coehn
brothers. Be it last year's No Country For Old Men
or one of my favorite comedies,
The Big Lebowski, the brothers create
amazing cinema. For me, all they need to
show in the trailer for a movie by these guys is
that it is by these guys. That is enough
for me to go see it.
Storylines are as flexible as they'll ever be
when you sit down for a movie of this style.
Plot twists, surprise endings and flat out
confusion are present throughout, more
accurately mimicking life than most directing
styles that proudly claim to be doing so on
purpose. You may sometimes hear people say
"...in the movies". It is most often
uttered as an excuse for the harsh realities of
life (e.g. - "that only happens in the movies").
Films created by the Coehn brothers are often
hated by the movie-going public who expect to
see the formulaic entertainment that justifies
that line, and for good reason. They not
only go outside of the box, they sometimes open
the box, then find the person who made the box
and bash their head in. For me, this makes
their films entertaining. For many, this
will turn them off.
Acting is flat out perfect in this film.
Brad Pitt puts on his best performance to date
as Chad, the bumbling gym trainer. If you
don't laugh at Pitt's dialogue and performance
in this film, you should have yourself checked
out. The cast is brilliant, with good
performances by everyone involved. This
could be a "learn how to act" lesson-movie in
cinema classes across the country. I
honestly can't think of a bad performance.
The focus of the direction is no doubt on
characters and it shows. Every character
shown in the film is developed and portrayed
beautifully. Had a little more attention
been paid to the storyline, you'd have had a
real winner here. The style of the Coehn's
to take things and show the ridiculous side is a
tad overdone.
I can't say I would rush out and see this one
again, but it is recommendable to Coehn brothers
fans who are familiar with the style. Burn
After Reading is entertaining and creates
memorable characters, most notably showcasing
that Pitt can be hilarious if need be. The
twists and turns in the story will confuse and
upset those who want a cinematic formula, but
for the others who want something different, it
may be right up your alley.
Angie's
Rating: B : I half want to give this movie
an A- and half want to give it a B-... so I
decided on B. The acting is stellar, but the
plot left me a little wanting. I'm not opposed
to the style of directing or flow of storyline,
and that wasn't the problem... the plot line was
just a little bare. The overall idea was good,
just needed a bit more. I did laugh a lot
during the movie and was still laughing with my
friends as we left, so like I said, I'm a little
torn, but overall this movie gets a B from me.
:) Out of all of the actors I will say Brad
Pitt, Frances McDormand, and J.K. Simmons are
the performances I enjoyed the most. Still
quoting lines from them... although Harry
Pfarrer's (Clooney) got some good lines too. ;)
*Side note: As with all of their films, the
f-bomb is over used and the violence is pretty
graphic, and by graphic I mean that it looks
pretty real. (I cringed a couple of times and I
work in medicine)
Brian's Rating:
A- : This movie cracked me up. It was a
little slow getting to the humor, but once it
started rolling in, I rarely stopped laughing.
It does not have much for a plot, but is funny
anyway. Instead it is a continual comedy of
circumstance, mixed with crazy antics from more
than one character.
John Malkovich's character was hilarious. Brad
Pitt was awesome. The actress who played Linda
in the movie was hilarious. Mix it all together
with a bunch of hilarious circumstance, and you
have a good movie.
Not as good as Lebowski, but I would see this
again without batting an eye. I am certain I
would laugh even more the next time.
Sebastian's
Rating: B+ : i wouldn't have seen this movie
unless The freak reccomened it to me. I'm
suprised he knew my favourite types of movies
are dramas.
No but i do love black comedies to, and this one
got me laughing. The way this movie is done it
makes me laugh. The acting was great and John
Malkoviches charactor was hilarious. the scene
when Pitt and malkovich were in the car, it got
me laughing.
There are some very memorable moments in this
film, especially the "dildo chair" probably the
best part of the entire movie. the Script didn't
get to me and i found it a strange, but the
ending was pretty good, and thinking fo the
entire movie it wasn't too bad.
I'm not too sure if this movie deserves an A,
However im very pleased that the freak
reccommended this movie to me, I'm glad I've
watched it.
Storminator's
Rating: A- : Very entertaining and
sufficiently bizarre.
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