Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 09/12/08 Home Video 12/16/08 MPAA Rating Rated G Running Time 1hour 31 minutes Genre Comedy, Thriller Director Joel & Ethan Coen Writer Joel & Ethan Coen Cast George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins and Brad Pitt Studio Focus Features |
BURN AFTER READING (2008)
SYNOPSIS
At the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency
in Arlington, Va., analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich)
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
(Tilda Swinton) is dismayed, though not particularly
surprised; she is already well into an illicit affair with
Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), 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 (Frances McDormand) 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 (Brad Pitt). Linda is all but oblivious to the
fact that the gym’s manager Ted Treffon (Richard
Jenkins) 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.
--© Focus Features
At the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency
in Arlington, Va., analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich)
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
(Tilda Swinton) is dismayed, though not particularly
surprised; she is already well into an illicit affair with
Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), 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 (Frances McDormand) 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 (Brad Pitt). Linda is all but oblivious to the
fact that the gym’s manager Ted Treffon (Richard
Jenkins) 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.
--© Focus Features
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
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