"Burn After Reading" is entertaining and disappointing

Mildly amusing.

That's the review for "Burn After Reading." 'Nuff said.

If you want to read on, feel free. Amusing is good. In the case of the Coen brothers, however, mild is not so good.

The brothers are known for quirky, mischievous and, when in top form, outright devilish comedy-dramas about selfish, foolish people who get into hot water with never a clue. They sometimes kill each other, as in "Blood Simple" (1984). They sometimes, with all good intentions, kidnap babies and name them Arizona, as in "Raising Arizona" (1987). They sometimes literally go to hell, as in "Barton Fink" (1991). They sometimes have bluegrass music in the background as they traverse through Homeric epics, as in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000).

The centerpiece is often a befuddled but good-hearted misfit, as with Marge in "Fargo" (1996) or The Dude in "The Big Lebowski" (1998).

In any case, all of these movies are memorable for their originality. You can't say the same for "Burn After Reading," which is entertaining but in a slight, less-than-daring way. It's like recess time for Joel (the older and more morose of the two) and Ethan Coen (the younger, who actually smiles sometimes). "Burn," outwardly, is a spy spoof in which characters believe they are involved in a Russian plot to take over the world, or something.

The film, which had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, opens with a typically bad-tempered John Malkovich as someone named Osborne Cox getting fired from the CIA. He's a Princeton grad who has skated for years, thinking no one would notice his alcoholism and arrogance. He stomps off and writes his memoir about espionage, foreign governments and such.

His wife, played by Tilda Swinton, loses the disc that contains the book. At the local gym, Hardbodies, two clueless fitness trainers find it and think they have important international secrets and a potential source of income. They'll sell to the Russians - anyone.

The movie is largely a vehicle for Frances McDormand, who happens to be the wife of Joel Coen and who won an Academy Award for her role in "Fargo." Here she is Linda Litzke, who believes she is in dire need of cosmetic surgery (a nose job, fat suction and such). It would help her line up better dates via the Internet. McDormand is perfect at playing these wacky characters with a hint of desperation that makes them more than just silly.

Her partner is the muscular Chad Feldheimer, who perpetually has earphones stuck into his handsome blond head, even though, obviously, there's nothing inside it. Brad Pitt has a great time with the part, even though he's not given much screen time or development.

George Clooney shows up to pose as an unusually active womanizer. He's having affairs with both Swinton (which must have required some acting ability) and McDormand. Neither of them suspects he is married, to an author of children's books (Elizabeth Marvel). You get the idea that this man should be more of a knockout then he is. Clooney is playing a Clooney image, which is what he does best.

Only Swinton, who is a real original as some kind of Amazon albino, seems concerned with proper acting, diction and such. The rest loosen up, which is all to the good in material this slight.

Richard Jenkins is touching amid all the mayhem as the gym boss who actually cares for Linda even without her cosmetic surgery. The reliable character actor stepped up to a starring vehicle earlier this year in "The Visitor." Good for him.

The music score, by Carter Burwell, is one of the year's best, complete with ominous percussion that keeps reminding us that this is a spoof of something serious. There is not a hint in the music that it might be a comedy. This music could easily have been used in a real thriller.

There is a visual tour of Washington, which suggests that the brothers might, in more ambitious moments, have been thinking of doing some kind of governmental satire. That will have to wait. In the meantime, this diversion will serve until the brothers get back to real work.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com