Catch the Coen Brothers Movie With Their Most Shocking Moment Before It Leaves Netflix

The Coen Brothers have been around for a long time. With major crime hits like Fargo, hilarious folk odysseys like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Western remakes such as True Grit, and comedic legends ala The Big Lebowski, these guys certainly know how to make complicated and thoughtful motion pictures. But there’s one movie in their ever-impressive filmography that stands above the rest as having one of the most shocking moments ever put on film, at least in one of their features. That’s right, we’re talking about that one moment in the 2008 satirical black comedy Burn After Reading, which is even better the second time around. With this one leaving Netflix so soon, there’s no time like the present to pick it back up and chow down on one of the Coen’s most shocking moments on film.

What Is ‘Burn After Reading’ About?

Like many Coen Brothers’ joints, Burn After Reading is all about a series of very serious misunderstandings that culminate in some pretty major incidents, all wrapped up in hysterical dark humor that only these guys can deliver. Centering on Hardbodies gym employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), who aims to raise enough money for several plastic surgeries, Burn After Reading, like The Big Lebowski before it, continues to escalate until we wonder where it’s all actually going. When it gets there, well, it’s just as surprising to us as it is to our protagonists. Early on, Linda and her absent-minded, himbo co-worker Chad (Brad Pitt) attempt to use a lost CD-R to blackmail a former CIA analyst, Oswald Cox (John Malkovich), into giving them some ransom money. When that doesn’t work, they go to the Russians, who naturally ask if they have any additional damning material on the U.S. government.

Along the way, Linda continues to find dates online, including a man named Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), an overly paranoid U.S. Marshal whom she instantly connects with despite her boss Ted’s (Richard Jenkins) obvious affection for her. The thing is, Harry is secretly a serial womanizer and is already married and having an additional affair with Cox’s wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), who is set on leaving her husband for him. Unsurprisingly, he has no intention of divorcing his own wife or making a new life with Katie, and would much rather continue dating around. Yeah, it’s a serious mess. Things get even messier as Linda and Chad step right into this world of extramarital confusion among government employees in the greater Washington D.C. area. To say things don’t particularly end well might be an understatement, but we’ll let you be the judge of that.

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While most critics praised Burn After Reading for its clever twists, hilarious casting choices, and distinct Coen-fueled vision, not everyone thought the black comedy was exactly exceptional. Roger Ebert didn’t consider this the Coen’s best, noting that “It’s funny, sometimes delightful, sometimes a little sad, with dialogue that sounds perfectly logical until you listen a little more carefully and realize all of these people are mad.” Well, there’s certainly no debate about that last part. The vast majority of the characters in Burn After Reading don’t feel like fully balanced people, even if they seem realistic on the surface. But while there are some serious opinions out there about which Coen Brothers movie is actually their best, with the previous year’s No Country For Old Men being a major contender, that doesn’t make the performances in Burn After Reading any less dynamic. If you can’t get past the strangeness of the plot and dialogue, one can at least appreciate how diligently everyone commits to their respective roles.

How Does the Confrontation Between Brad Pitt & George Clooney End in ‘Burn After Reading’?

Hoping to uncover some additional dirt on Oswald Cox for the Russians, Chad decides that it’s a good idea to break into the man’s home during the day and hop on his computer. But just as Chad is about to leave, calling it a bust, he notices that a man––Clooney’s Harry Pfarrer––is coming through the door. In a panic, instead of heading down to the basement or high-tailing it for the backdoor, Chad hides in the bedroom closet, watching as Harry takes the shortest shower known to man. Instead of running off while Harry is in the shower, Chad just stands in there like an idiot. But once Harry gets out of the bathroom is when things heat up. Just as he opens the closet in search of a new shirt, Chad’s smiling face is there to greet him, but only for a moment, as Harry wastes no time blowing it clean off. Then, Harry loses it and runs like a madman before blowing up his life even more than he had previously.

First of all, this scene is hilarious. Pitt plays his role here perfectly as he struggles to find a way out, even missing his clear window while Harry is in the shower. While one might think that, because of their Ocean’s Trilogy history, Pitt and Clooney might reunite here on camera for a moment or two, the Coens rip any hope of that away from us. This moment comes as a startling surprise that changes the entire game, and the movie doesn’t recover. Not unlike other sudden deaths in Coen pictures, this one shifts the entire narrative as Harry becomes increasingly more paranoid (after being followed for most of the film) and Linda becomes hysterical after not being able to find Chad. This death even leads to Cox being thrown into a coma and the death of Linda and Chad’s boss Ted, who returns to the house in hopes to impress Linda by getting the info that Chad couldn’t. The things people do for love…

Burn After Reading sets this scene up perfectly too. Earlier in the film, Harry comments to Linda that he hasn’t fired his gun in about twenty years and that he knows whenever the moment comes, he’ll be able to again via muscle memory. But more than anything, this diamond of a scene reminds us that the Coen’s best moments are those most unexpected and that their humor can come in all forms, from slapstick comedy to the most gruesome and bloody of deaths. It’s the absurdity of the whole interaction that makes it land, and although it’s easy to wish there was just a bit more material, the whole sequence is undoubtedly the perfect length. The equal parts disarming and alarming look on Chad’s face is an uneasy messenger that convinces Harry his time is up, but rather than succumb, he shoots his harbinger square in the face. Poor Chad too. He didn’t even have a clue who Harry was and, like a puppy who implicitly trusts those around him, looks death in the eyes without so much as a thought for his life.

Brad Pitt Steals the Show In ‘Burn After Reading,’ and George Clooney Isn’t Far Behind

Brad Pitt is perfectly cast as Chad here, and that’s a face. With his trademark smile and glaring charisma, there isn’t a better man for the role. Chad thinks that the Hardbodies employees have stumbled on something big with Oz Cox’s CD-R––which in reality features only clippings from his work-in-progress memoir––and he’s sure that he and Linda can strike rich off its material. Not only is Chad a poor gym employee who ignorantly injures his trainees, but his hyper-optimistic and increasingly ignorant outlook on life puts him in dangerous situations that he can’t as easily stumble (or smile) his way out of. Had he recognized the very real danger he and Linda had put themselves in, he wouldn’t have even thought of sticking around once Harry got home. But instead, he does the thing we all scream at horror movie characters for doing, and doesn’t live to tell the tale. Still, we can’t help but crack up about it.

Pitt isn’t exactly known for playing dumb characters, but maybe he should tackle those roles more often. The leading man in movies like World War Z, Se7en, and Fight Club has proven time and again that he can command an audience and commit to serious and grounded roles as well as anyone. But Burn After Reading shows us a different side of the actor, who can play hot-and-dumb like no other. Chad is funny, caring, and a bit of a blockhead, which is what makes his death both hurt so much and drives us to hysterical, albeit shocking, laughter. Caught in this idiotic web of conspiracy, Chad and Linda make every single wrong choice they possibly can, and don’t seem to learn a lick from them. No wonder he got himself shot in the head. After all, when you mess with the bull…

But as great as Pitt is, the scene only works so well because of the masterful talents of George Clooney, who almost always plays a moron when working with the Coen Brothers. Harry has been paranoid this whole picture, but up until now, has been able to convince himself that it might be nothing. It’s this moment that drives him over the edge, and as a result, he beats up a literal messenger, nukes his romantic affairs, and eventually escapes to South America in hopes of running away from the non-entity supposedly chasing him. Clooney is a master of facial expression and subtle rise in psychological anguish, and Harry is picture-proof of his ability to steal the show. Though in this case, he had to literally kill Brad Pitt for it.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt Were Offended By Their Roles

Speaking of Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading was something a dream come true for the actor. Well, that is until he read the script. “I had been trying to get into a Coen Brothers movie for some time,” Pitt once explained in an interview (via Movies.ie). “But after reading the part, which they said was handwritten for myself, it’s true that I was not sure whether to be flattered or insulted.” Clooney had a similar response, calling his three collaborations with the filmmakers (including O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty) his “trilogy of idiots” while at the Burn After Reading premiere in Venice (via Reuters). Yet, though the respective Oceans stars might not have always been thrilled with their Burn After Reading characters, they left a significant mark on the film in their only scene together. It’s hard to underplay their respective performances here, and even harder to divorce them from the overall success of the picture.

Sure, both Harry and Chad are complete morons, and neither one of them would in any way represent the sharpest of tacks, but they’re each played so convincingly that we can’t help but fixate on their respective performances. Harry is a terrible person, but there’s still something interesting about him beyond the infidelity and paranoia. (Okay, maybe the paranoia is the interesting part.) Yes, Chad should probably have gotten his head checked before it was removed from his shoulders, but we love his misplaced courage and loyalty to Linda.

The Coen Brothers Are Masters of Hilarious Suspense and Perfect Casting

Anyone at all familiar with the Coen brothers’ work knows that this filmmaking duo has perfected the art of masterful suspense. They can create tension as effortlessly as a musician can play the strings. Often, these moments are constructed as equally thrilling and hilarious, with moments such as the scene in The Big Lebowski where Walter (John Goodman) takes a baseball bat to a car or the bar shootout scene in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs makes it almost impossible to refrain from laughing in the face of some acts of violence. Fargo‘s woodchipper moment and O Brother, Where Art Thou?‘s Cyclops confrontation also come instantly to mind. What we see here, and throughout the majority of Burn After Reading, only further pushes the Coen’s envelope beyond whatever limitations we might put on them.

With a project like Burn After Reading, there’s a temptation to write it off as just a screwball comedy without any particular note of importance. But to think that anyone could have been cast in these specific roles would be a mistake. After all, the film itself was only possible because of the players they brought together. “We wrote it as an exercise in thinking about what kind of parts these actors might play,” Ethan Coen told Uncut in 2008, noting that every lead except Tilda Swinton was cast in their minds beforehand. “We just wanted to do something with these specific people.” Clearly, the Coens could have been casting directors in another life, because every player (most especially Pitt and Clooney) is just right for the part. There’s no one who seems out of place, and everyone feels like the best possible choice they could’ve brought on board. If there’s one thing we can say about this Coen Brothers’ picture, it’s that it was executed exactly as intended, including Chad’s hilariously tragic death.

Burn After Reading

A disk containing mysterious information from a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous and daft gym employees who attempt to sell it.

Release Date

September 5, 2008

Director

Ethan Coen , Joel Coen

Runtime

96

Burn After Reading is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix