Burn After Reading gets mixed reviews

The Coen brothers new film Burn After Reading has been met with a mixed reception following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Playing out as a dark comedy, the film has an exemplary cast, including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand and John Malcovich.

However, whereas critics fawned over the Coens' last film No Country for Old Men, the new movie is getting a much cooler response from some quarters.

The Guardian's critic wrote: "There are smart films about smart people, smart films about dumb people, but Burn Before Reading is a dumb film about dumb people."

Variety concurred, calling the film "immature" and "too fundamentally silly".

The Hollywood Reporter took a more positive approach, saying: "It takes a while to adjust to the rhythms and subversive humour of Burn because this is really an anti-spy thriller in which nothing is at stake, no one acts with intelligence and everything ends badly.

Burn After Reading is set to be released in the US on September 12th.

Titles related to this article

Related/similar articles

• Burn After Reading (13 October 2008)
• Spy Games (13 October 2008)
• Burn After Reading takes UK number one (22 October 2008)
• Top 50 DVDs of the Year 2008 (3 December 2008)
• The Best and Worst of 2008 (16 December 2008)
• Australia: Baz Luhrmann, Hugh Jackman and Catherine Martin interview (19 December 2008)