Burn After Reading (2008)

A satire of the Washington D.C. intelligence community by the Coen brothers. A CIA analysts (John Malkovich) with a drinking problem decides to write his memoirs after being fired, his adulterous wife (Tilda Swinton) uses his firing as an excuse to finally divorce her spouse and marry her lover (George Clooney), a paranoid Treasury department official. Meanwhile, two airheads (Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand) who work at a local gym find a CD containing a draft of Malkovich's memoirs which they mistake for secret government files and blackmail him. This is Coen brothers lite, clearly in a wicked and playful mood. I don't think we're supposed to take much of this seriously because although it hits its mark frequently, like all satire it's exaggerated to make its point. The talented cast is up for it with Pitt getting the most laughs as a dingy personal trainer. The excellent percussive score by the Coen's regular composer Carter Burwell, consisting mostly of Japanese taiko drums, propels the film along. With Richard Jenkins, Jeffrey DeMunn, Elizabeth Marvel, J.K. Simmons and Dermot Mulroney.