Well, let me start off by saying that I originally saw this two weeks ago and loved it. So I decided to go back and see it again. The Coen Brothers seem to have formed a pattern that has worked for them over the years. After putting out a serious film, the switch gears to a comedy one. Blood Simple brought Raising Arizona. Miller’s Crossing brought The Hudsucker Proxy. Fargro brought The Big Lebowski. The Man Who Wasn’t There brought Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers (both of which kind of sucked.). Now, it is fitting that after their most acclaimed film, they up the ante for their newest comedy, Burn After Reading. With the zoom-in effect used to open the film, we are given the impression that something important is happening. Well, it is important in the sense that without it, we would not have a film. But it’s so trivial because of it’s cause. CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) gets demoted for too much drinking. We immediately get a glimpse into his hilarious character that is somewhat of an elitist. He gets to come home to his bitch-of-a-wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton) and decides to write some memoirs, or as Osbourne likes to call them, “mem-wah’s”. Well his darling Katie happens to be cheating on him with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) who is not only cheating on his wife (Patricia Clarkson) with Katie, but also the kind-hearted Linda Litzke (Frances McDomand). Confusing, I know. Well, in an attempt to ‘prepare’ for the divorce, Katie copies Cox’s financial as well as his memoirs. Through a couple of plain-forgetful actions, the disc containing these items is found on the floor of Hard Bodies, a gym that is run by Linda, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), and the well-mannered sensitive man, Ted (Richard Jenkins). Chad and Linda end up thinking that they really have something important and demand a ransom from Cox. Chaos and hilarity ensues as the term ‘making a mountain out of an anthill’ comes to life. But in this case, the anthill has actually become a mountain forged out of stupidity, infidelity, and murder.