Every several weeks my wife and I go out for dinner and a movie. This week we chose to go to our favorite sushi restaurant and then to see Burn After Reading. We got to the theater too early and found our selves the first guests. That was OK except we had to listen to the same music over and over like a bad info commercial but we managed to relax a little and get prepared for the show. Finally the movie trailers started and the theater was filled with mostly adults. We sat patiently during the trailers and laughed at the short version of upcoming movies. Then what we thought was going to be another trailer started and it was actually the movie.
We both sat there quietly scratching our heads trying to figure out the beginning plot as the story unfolded before us. It has by most accounts been listed as a B and B+. MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence.
Now first I want to say this is not a critical review of this comic movie. Yes, it is a comedy and we laughed albeit dry. That is the extent of my review. After we left the theater and traveled home we discussed various scenes and laughed some more when we got stuck in traffic waiting for a freight train to pass. Then on towards home.
As I was driving I began thinking to my self. Could there really be people in our government or just people period who are like this? After watching the shananigins on TV for both the Democratic and Republican conventions, I have to conclude there certainly could be.
With close to 6 billion people on this earth it is safe to assume there has to be a few who have completely lost it and why not in government!
Every time someone leaves a government post (job) he or she announces they are going to write their personal memoirs or have signed a book deal. So one is lead to believe that their must be corruption and off the cuff dealing that they can tell a story about their connection to it.
Therefor justify their envelopment and make some money on it. Just for clarification sake, I will say the movie is not about writing memoirs although is fits into the plot.
The point I am trying to drive here is we humans love a story no matter how outrageous. Just go to any bookstore or online and you will see millions of books. We have been telling stories since the beginning of our existence from cave drawings to parchment to poetry and songs all related to story telling. Personal memoirs is just a story based on how one person views life and the events that have occurred around them during a period of time. Lets be clear on this, as there is a clear distinction between fiction and non-fiction.
Obviously the movie is fiction, but I would muse that its probably closer to the truth then we would hope. So the next time you sit and read a book titled the memoirs of so and so who just left a government post you may want to ponder what really are the motives behind the book?
As far as the movie goes we rated it a C. Wait for it to come out on DVD. But I will leave that for you to judge as you are the one paying for the popcorn!
