Netflix Has The Most Perfect Comedy Of Errors, And An Underrated Thriller

By Robert Scucci
| Published 11 seconds ago

When the Coen Brothers fire on all cylinders, you really can’t beat them. Unfortunately, they’ve put out so many certified bangers that some get overlooked more than others, like 2008’s Burn After Reading. Whenever I talk to anybody about the duo’s films, the same titles always come up. Blood Simple (1984). Raising Arizona (1987). Fargo (1996). The Big Lebowski (1998). No Country for Old Men (2007). You get the point.

Burn After Reading, while not the most talked about Coen Brothers film, remains one of the best comedies of errors in their filmography because everybody miscommunicates and acts on impulse at a level so insanely stupid that it’s actually awe-inspiring. There’s espionage and blackmail, love triangles, paranoia, and, my favorite part, J.K. Simmons somehow being both subdued and completely exasperated whenever he shows up in a scene.

We Really Can’t Talk Too Much Plot Here

Normally, when I lay out a plot for a review, I talk about the beats at a high level so I don’t spoil the film. You can’t really do that with Burn After Reading because every single scene reveals something important. It’s a cumulative exercise in escalation, and the best I can do without robbing you of the experience is give you a quick and dirty rundown so you know what kind of people we’re dealing with here.

Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is a disgraced CIA analyst who gets demoted because of his drinking problem. Unable to handle the blow to his ego, he quits and decides to write his memoirs. His wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), is thinking about filing for divorce for many of the same reasons his bosses pushed him out, and, on her lawyer’s advice, starts gathering financial documents to get the ball rolling. In the process, she accidentally snags a rough copy of Osborne’s memoirs. She’s also having an affair with U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), who compulsively works out and constantly falls into paranoid spirals.

This information gets burned onto a CD-R by her lawyer’s assistant, who accidentally drops it out of her gym bag while working out at Hardbodies, the gym where everybody just so happens to cross paths at one point or another. This is where Burn After Reading introduces the dumbest criminals of all time in the form of Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), two personal trainers who collectively have an IQ of about 50.

Chad looks at the disc, which mostly contains Osborne’s bank statements and some laughably bad prose, and becomes convinced he’s uncovered sensitive government material. He and Linda come up with a plan to blackmail Osborne, though in their minds they’re really just holding onto his “important assets” until he pays them to return everything safely. From this point forward, loyalties shift, incriminating information comes to light, and the Russian Embassy gets dragged into the mess because Linda desperately wants a payout so she can finally afford cosmetic surgery. Meanwhile, her manager Ted (Richard Jenkins), who’s secretly in love with her, watches the whole thing unravel in horror from the sidelines.

We’ve Barely Gotten Into This, Trust Me

While it may sound like I’ve already given you the full rundown for Burn After Reading, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Every interaction spirals further out of control, pushing each character into increasingly ridiculous territory. It would probably take three more pages to unpack everybody’s motives, affairs, and missteps. It’s a masterclass in everything going wrong in the worst way possible, no matter how smart, flawed, or downright idiotic the people involved happen to be.

The second-hand exasperation you feel while watching Burn After Reading can basically be summed up through J.K. Simmons’ character at the CIA, known only as “CIA Superior.” He’s such an inconsequential character, but his position in the hierarchy being dismantled here perfectly illustrates how inconsequential everything else in the film actually is. Every time he gets an update about Osborne’s missing files, Linda and Chad’s extortion attempts, or Harry’s involvement, he rubs his temples and tells his guy to come back when any of it starts making sense.

In Burn After Reading, the stakes couldn’t be any lower, but everybody treats the situation like their lives depend on things going exactly their way, even though most of them barely understand what their own goals even are. That’s what makes it so beautiful to watch. Nobody is operating on the same wavelength, and every misunderstanding snowballs into another slapdash disaster waiting to happen.

If you’re a Coen Brothers fan but slept on Burn After Reading, I strongly recommend you stop what you’re doing, fire up Netflix where it’s currently streaming, and watch it as soon as possible.