Burn After Reading (2008)

Burn After Reading (2008) Movie Reviews
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Cast: George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, Lenny Venito

Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Writer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rating: R

Running Time: 97 min.

Advisory: for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence

Synopsis: At the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Arlington, Va., analyst Osborne Cox arrives for a top-secret meeting. Unfortunately for Cox, the secret is soon out: he is being ousted. Cox does not take the news particularly well and returns to his Georgetown home to work on his memoirs and his drinking, not necessarily in that order. His wife Katie is dismayed, though not particularly surprised; she is already well into an illicit affair with Harry Pfarrer, a married federal marshal, and sets about making plans to leave Cox for Harry. Elsewhere in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, and seemingly worlds apart, Hardbodies Fitness Centers employee Linda Litzke can barely concentrate on her work. She is consumed with her life plan for extensive cosmetic surgery, and confides her mission to can-do colleague Chad Feldheimer. Linda is all but oblivious to the fact that the gym's manager Ted Treffon pines for her even as she arranges dates via the Internet with other men. When a computer disc containing material for the CIA analyst's memoirs accidentally falls into the hands of Linda and Chad, the duo are intent on exploiting their find. As Ted frets, "No good can come of this," events spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control, in a cascading series of darkly hilarious encounters.

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  • Dec 26, 2010 08:26 am

    Patrick said: F

    Extremely boring. Quite possibly one of the worst movies Ive ever seen.

  • May 24, 2011 03:49 pm

    Amanda said: C

    This film doesn't really make sense. I can't tell if it's supposed to be funny or disturbing, which is one of the strengths of the Coen brothers, but here it doesn't work.

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