The Coen brothers directed, produced and wrote this film.

Definitely quirky with an incredible ensemble cast of actors, most of whom the Coen brothers had in mind when they wrote the screenplay.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt play “dueling idiots”, John Malkovich is a hilarious ex-CIA man and Tilda Swinton plays his extremely cold,insensitive wife who is having an affair with George Clooney. Francis McDorman plays a woman who works in a fitness center dead set on getting plastic surgery and willing to do anything to get it. She works with Brad Pitt who plays the most idiotic character I have ever seen him play. The Coen brothers wrote the role with him in mind and Pitt said he wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or insulted. He’s great in the part, however. :)

Burn After Reading isn’t a terrible movie, but it’s probably my second least-favourite Coen Brothers work (after Intolerable Cruelty). It’s silly and blackly funny, but other than an exercise in character work, I didn’t think it was that worthwhile. In fact, most of the humour comes from the characters, almost all of whom have an overinflated view of their own importance. It’s that motivation that drives the plot and leads to some of the more interesting – and bizarre – plot twists. But by the end, I was feeling like the C.I.A. agent during the briefing: sure, it’s weird, but why was it important? Maybe the movie wasn’t terribly important, but it was kind of interesting. So it’s worth watching once, but that’s about it.

I laughed the whole way through, then it ended and I stopped immediately, feeling as though the Coen brothers had given me a WTF moment much like Osbourne Cox dealt with throughout the entire film.

“veiled” spoiler alert!

Best Cohen movie in my opinion! Far better than No Country for Old Men. The movie delves into paranoia, online dating, random acquantances, infidelity…

The funniest thing about the movie is at the end when the “case” is discussed and the heroine “achieves her goal.” It’s too bad the Cohens won all their accolades last year…this movie was far better!