"I know what you represent," sneers John Malkovich, playing an ex- CIA operative confronting one of his blackmailing tormentors in the Coen Brothers' latest, "Burn After Reading" — "you represent the entire idiocy of today!"
The Coens, unlike Malkovich's aggrieved spook, may not take a hatchet to all the idiots, but their film is equally merciless. After the success of their taut thriller "No Country For Old Men" last year, the Coens — director-producer team Joel and Ethan — again change tack, reverting to broad comedy in "Burn After Reading." And yet, if "No Country" felt almost biblical in parts — with serial killer Anton Chigurh an avenging angel bent on punishing men for their sins — that's also true of "Burn," which feels like a document of the seven deadly sins in today's den of iniquity, Washington, D.C.
First up is Osbourne Cox (Malkovich): A veteran CIA analyst, he's being moved to a lesser position due to a drinking problem. In a fit of rage, he quits, which doesn't sit well with his ball-buster wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), who's already having an affair with Harry (George Clooney), an all-too-suave federal marshal. As Osbourne sinks further into the bottle, Katie prepares for divorce, and on a lawyer's advice, backs up all her husband's computer data onto a CDR.