I'm Taking My Wedge and I'm Going Home

There's nothing better than low expectations. I wish I could go into every movie with low expectations and only the tiniest idea of the plot. Unfortunately, this is not how it is with most films I watch but it was the case with Burn After Reading. The commercials were confusing and a bit off-putting. It screamed "forced wackiness" to me and there's rarely anything I hate more than that. Instead, I ended up totally bowled over by it's nonstop lunacy and quirky brilliance.

Agreed. A solid 8. This movie filled me with joyous delight from the start to the finish. It was so cleverly constructed and meticulously detailed, as all the Coen Brothers films are, and while in some ways it felt like a bit of a cast off, the kind of movie they could write in a half-conscious state, it was so charming and wonderfully entertaining.

There were so many perfect little snippets of bizarre dialogue, including the amazing conversation where the gym owner proudly shows Frances McDormand the photo of himself as a Greek Orthodox priest and she declares, "That's a good job!" Brad Pitt also had some choice lines and amazed me with his complete dedication to a role that called for him to be a complete buffoon in over his head and messing with the wrong people.

This movie perfectly achieved what Tropic Thunder failed at so miserably - showing ordinary doofuses acting like experts in situations beyond their scope and out of their control. Raised on movies and bad pop culture, they think they can play in the big leagues only to find out how dismally they actually perform when confronted with the severity of the situation.

It's a cautionary tale basically saying "Don't be a moron. And if you do, don't do it again."

Words to live by.