Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading is a dark comedy-thriller film directed by the Coen Brothers, following the story of a group of gym employees who stumble upon a CD containing sensitive government information. With an all-star cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and John Malkovich, the film takes the audience on a wild ride filled with blackmail, murder, and plenty of chaos. The story begins with Osbourne Cox (Malkovich), a disgraced CIA analyst who quits his job due to a drinking problem and decides to write a memoir. His wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), who is having an affair with Harry Pfarrer (Clooney), a married U.S. Marshal, copies Osbourne's digital financial records and personal files onto a CD-R, which she accidentally leaves on the floor of a local gym. Chad Feldheimer (Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), two personal trainers at the gym, find the CD and mistakenly believe it contains sensitive government information. They devise a plan to return the disc to Osbourne for a reward but their inept efforts only enrage him. Desperate for money, they try to sell the disc to the Russian embassy, meeting with an official who is later revealed to be a spy for the CIA. Meanwhile, Harry becomes romantically involved with Linda after meeting her on a dating site. When Chad is discovered by Harry in the Cox household, he reflexively kills him, thinking he is a government agent. The CIA headquarters learns that information from Osbourne has been given to the Russian embassy, but they are perplexed because the information is of no particular importance and the perpetrators' motive is unknown. As the events unfold, Linda returns to the embassy, believing that the Russians have abducted Chad, but they deny this and inform her that the contents of CD are worthless. In a desperate attempt to find Chad and rectify the situation before it's too late; she convinces Ted (Jeffrey DeMunn), Hardbodies' manager, to help her break into the Cox household. With a twisted plot, memorable characters, and plenty of unexpected twists; Burn After Reading delivers an unpredictable thrill ride until the very end.

You can stream Burn After Reading on: Netflix Apple TV Amazon Store Fandango at Home

Some movies that have similar genres and were produced around the same time as Burn After Reading include Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Vavien, Comic Book: The Movie, Cheap Thrills, The Ice Harvest, Alien Apocalypse.

Burn After Reading was released in theaters on September 12, 2008.