Burn after Reading

I loved the scene where the CIA officer is reporting on events to his superior. The superior says: “Report back to me when it makes sense.” There were so many things going on and they seemed to be connected but nobody understood how they were connected. So the big question is: What’s going on? The people in this film have no connection to each other, are from completely different backgrounds, with different baggage and motives and yet they are all involved in the same plot; or seem to be. The story is: Osbourne Cox is removed from his job as a CIA agent because of his drinking problem. He then decides to write his memoirs. Additional info, his cold-hearted wife is having an affair with Harry who is married to another cold-hearted woman. Meanwhile, back at Hardbodies gym, Linda, a fitness instructor who is looking for love, needs 4 different cosmetic surgeries to reinvent herself, but no money to pay for it. The plot sets in motion when a computer disc which apparently holds national secrets, is found in the locker room of the gym. Linda’s friend Chad traces it back to Osbourne Cox so they attempt to “get a reward” from Cox for the return of the disc. If this is a bit confusing, you’re not alone. And it gets more confusing. Add in a shooting or two, an axe murder and there you have it: “What a clusterf**k!” as the CIA superior so succinctly puts it.
The Coen brothers are known for making dark comedies and this is definitely a dark comedy. Clooney, as the paranoid womanizer Harry, and Brad Pitt as the dim-witted gym coach are fantastic! As for the point of the movie, if there is one, maybe it’s just that nothing can be understood when there are so many people involved with so many layers of the stuff that they carry around with them. The important thing is that this is a screwball comedy with lots of great laughs.