Burn After Reading - No Biggie
2,578,419
Published 2009-11-15
All Comments (21)
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Honestly? Quite the positive working atmosphere. Subordinate gives his boss all the details without hiding things, even his own shortcomings or lack of information. Boss readily absorbs all the information, asks pertinent questions, acknowledges there is a problem without blaming the man who told him about it, lays out a working plan moving forward. I'm honestly a bit envious of this working atmosphere.
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I would love a half-hour sitcom that's just Rasche and Simmons dealing with something like this every week.
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This is a great depiction of a very specific type of boss. Jaded, seen it all, blunt but generally amicable, has zero interest in power trips or hierarchy. Just wants things to go smoothly. Holds peoples' respect through sheer competence and his straightforward nature, treats everyone as an equal as long as they pull their weight.
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"Report back to me when uh...I don't know, when it makes sense" LOL These actors play this scene perfectly! Entire movie is a masterpiece :-)
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As a failed PhD student, the "report back to me when it makes sense" part gave me flashbacks.
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"They all seem to be sleeping with each other."
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"What's his clearance level?" "Three" I don't know why but i just love that part. Just makes it sound the way it's supposed to: completely unremarkable.
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I love it. For all his pompousness, self importance, all those agency lingoisms, Osborne Cox's true significance in the intelligence community summed up in three words: "Okay, no biggie.""
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"God no. Burn the body, get rid of it" I wonder how many times that's been said in the offices of our government. π€£π
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i love how the guy who brings the folder into the room goes from being worried that his boss is going to be mad at him to being worried that his boss has no clue what's going on
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I love the joy on Palmer's face when he's asked what Cox's clearance level is. He's nervous about this whole thing, and then he's like, "OH! Yeah, 3 unimportant."
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I think my favourite part of this whole film is how almost every single character thinks they're in something so much bigger than the reality. Malkovitch's thinks his memoirs will be "explosive" but the Russians call it drivel. Brad Pitt's thinks a bunch of bank statement are encrypted intel, Clooney thinks a bumbling PI is a spook, Clooney AND the CIA think Pitt is a spook. I love it.
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The little detail they completely nail is the ambient sounds of non-carpeted sectioned hallways with closed office doors. I worked in a secure intel facility exactly like this, and it is just so perfect. Working in a window-less office building will literally such your soul away.
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Imagine those guys coming home to their wives (I'm sure the Coenβs had a rather conventional set-up for them in mind): "Hi honey, how was work today?" "I donβt know."
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I like how Palmer is all stressed out about the whole situation and Simmons just doesn't give any fucks about it in the end.
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JK Simmons is equally great at playing bumbling goofballs and terrifying villians, a true talent.
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I'm impressed how well this film humanized the intelligence ops. They're not all-seeing gods or bumbling fools; they're just people trying to make sense of things with the tools available to them.
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"He dumps a body in the Chesapeake Bay". J K Simmons "Well, what did he do THAT for"? Hilarious !
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This movie is actually an indirect documentary of government work. People have some romantic perception to it but most of the secrecy is actually not to let public know how incompetent and messed it is.
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"Oh no. God no. We don't want those idiots bumbling around in this."
