Burn After Reading (2008)
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A pair of gym employees mistake a discarded memoir for classified government documents, sparking a series of chaotic misadventures.
The story
After being forced out of his job as a CIA analyst due to a drinking problem, Osborne Cox decides to write a memoir. When his wife, Katie, prepares for a divorce, she leaves a digital copy of his personal files and the memoir's draft in a public locker room. The files are discovered by two gym employees, Chad and Linda, who mistakenly believe the contents are sensitive government secrets. Seeking to profit from their find, the pair begins a series of desperate and misguided attempts to trade the information for money, unaware of the actual contents or the consequences of their actions as they involve themselves in a web of escalating confusion.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Osborne Cox, a disgraced CIA analyst, writes a memoir while his wife, Katie, prepares for a divorce and an affair with a U.S. Marshal named Harry. A digital copy of Osborne's files is left in a gym locker room and found by Chad and Linda, who believe it contains state secrets. Their attempts to blackmail Osborne fail, leading them to try to sell the disc to the Russian embassy. This alerts the CIA, who are confused by the lack of importance of the data. Meanwhile, Harry becomes involved with Linda, and Chad is eventually shot and killed by Harry after a misunderstanding. The CIA covers up Chad's death to avoid federal involvement. After a series of escalating errors, including a fatal confrontation between Osborne and a gym manager, Osborne is left comatose after being shot by a CIA officer. Linda is captured but released in exchange for her plastic surgery, and Harry is allowed to flee to Venezuela. The film ends with the CIA officials bewildered by the sheer absurdity of the events.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 96
- Production countries
- United States; United Kingdom
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Joel Coen; Ethan Coen
- Writers
- Joel Coen · writer; Ethan Coen · writer
- Cast and characters
- George Clooney · a womanizing U.S. Marshal; Frances McDormand · Linda Litzke; John Malkovich · Osborne Cox; Tilda Swinton · Katie Cox; Richard Jenkins · the gym manager; Brad Pitt · Chad Feldheimer; J. K. Simmons · a CIA supervisor
- Genres
- black comedy; espionage; spy comedy
- Themes
- idiocy; miscommunication
- Tone and mood
- black comedy; absurd
- Premise and plot tags
- spy comedy; mismatched characters
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film received mostly positive critical responses and performed well at the box office.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 78% · scale: percentage · review count: 248; Metacritic · score: 63 · scale: 100 · review count: 37
- Production trivia
- The film was the first Coen brothers film not to use Roger Deakins as cinematographer since Miller's Crossing.; The score was designed to be percussive to match the 'deluded self-importance' of the characters.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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