Burn After Reading

They're all mad.

Seriously. Many of the characters in this film are insane (apart from the straight men who stand around looking bemused).

When CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is fired, he believes it is political. He storms out after being told he has a drinking problem - and then there's a predictable cut to him pouring a glass of something alcoholic for himself.

Cox decides to write his memoirs, despite his wife asking why anyone would possibly be interested in those. However, when a disc containing those memoirs and some financial information is lost, some people turn out to be very interested.

Unfortunately, these people are also insane.




Believing themselves to be in possession of top secret CIA info, gym employees Chad (Brad Pitt) and Linda (Frances McDormand) attempt to blackmail Cox. When he refuses to play ball, they attempt to sell the information to the Russians (yes, the Russians). Meanwhile, having checked that Cox has relatively limited access to anything interesting, the CIA looks on in bemusement, as the characters convince themselves of their own importance.

Every single character appears to believe they are in a film (I said the characters, not the actors). Well, that's an exageration. Lots of characters seem to believe they are starring in spy or gangster movies, with a variety of government agencies interested in their activities. This is, in fact, false - they are nowhere near as important as they think they are. Although they are all sleeping with one another.

The film is hilarious, in a dark way. Many of the roles were written specifically for the actors who played them, which is probably why they fit so well. The film is unpredictably comic, and not nearly so violent as one might expect for the R rating (although the sensitive may wish to close their eyes during the axe scene). Clooney is so incredibly tanned that, for much of the movie, I didn't recognise him, assuming he was some Asian actor (and by 'Asian', I mean south-east - India or Pakistan, probably). I've never been a huge fan of Clooney or tans, but I'm sure some people will swoon over that. His character gave me some good ideas about running, so kudos for that.

Bartelmy