I saw this movie twice: once in the regular theater and once in an art theater. The artsy crowd was more vocally appreciative. The way the plot kept folding back in upon itself presenting the same circumstances from another angle, another background, was just the ticket to appeal to aficionados of the offbeat.

The plot actually makes sense scene by scene as it goes along; it's putting it all together that's likely to confound the viewer who will respond according to his predisposition. So many twists and turns. And there's no fault to the acting. The acting is flawless, with a big name cast. Moreover, the actors work well together. Brad Pitt in particular gives a sterling performance in a role outside his typecasting.

To give a focused picture of what the movie's about, I'm going to step back, way back, and first look at the nature of the film medium itself. John W. Whitehead, in Grasping for the Wind (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001) p. 267, says of GOD AND FILM:
    In this chaotic age, people are increasingly seeking something outside themselves to give
    order and meaning to their lives. While painting once tackled these questions, modern film
    now addresses this search, which inevitably includes the subject of God. Of all the artistic
    forms throughout the ages, film may be the most suitable forum for the discussion of religion
    and God.
In this medium of film so eminently suited for religious and moral topics, or for romance or heroic adventure, we sometimes get films that just don't get off ground level. The opening shot of Burn After Reading quite pointedly clues us that such is the case here. We see a satellite view of the earth in all its beauty. The camera slowly zooms down to cloud level, down over the Washington, D.C. area to the roof of the CIA building in Langley, Virginia, then through the roof to ... shoes walking on a tiled floor. Yes, the CIA usually has higher matters on its plate than what will face them here.

The literate viewer—of which the artsy crowd would include quite a few—will find this very situation when he reads the Bible. So many high matters are dealt with, and then he comes to chapter 30 of Proverbs, the words of Agur who tells us plainly, (Prov. 30:2-3) "Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy." Theologians, scholars, and the like will have read what he says without knowing how in heaven's name it applies to biblical matters. Similarly, the CIA is going to be monitoring the goings on of an exercise gym, of all places, and not have a clue how it applies to their mission. This happens because in a circle where "everybody is sleeping with everybody else," Internet dating links the two sets together as well as the gym being a place where the sedentary CIA execs get their workouts. There is a certain amount of intercourse between the two which leads to unintended results.

The words of Agur for all their theological limitations turn out to be spot on when applied to this plot:
    (Prov. 30:21-23) "For three things the earth is
    disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
    For a servant when he reigneth;
    and a fool when he is filled with meat;
    For an odious woman when she is married;
    and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress."
We're going to see movie mayhem and disaster resulting from all four causes working in concert, and that's the best framework I know of to give my reader a handle on the plot.

To begin with, those footsteps on tile lead to a meeting with the boss where SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) analyst Oz (Osborne Cox) is about to be demoted, reassigned, because of his drinking problem. How does he take it? Not calmly like Bud in "Swing Vote" who lost his job too because of a drinking problem. And while Bud was capable of learning from his mistakes, Oz is not. Oz is the classic fool, the "arrogant bozo" who resigns and then expects to live off his wife's earnings while writing his memoirs—"drivel." He introduces an element of stress as defined by Agur, "a fool when he is filled with meat"—for a more elaborate treatment of this category see my review of the movie "Kit Kittredge."

Oz's wife is having an affair with a guy who works in the Marshal Service and still carries his pistol which he had never fired in line of duty. She characterizes the marshal's wife as a "cold stuck-up [word for female dog]" who likewise characterizes her as a "common stuck-up [b-word again]." This goes right along with Agur's "odious woman when she is married." I analyze this cause of stress more fully in my review of the movie Sex and the City.

You can start to do a little figuring at this point. Oz was canned in the presence of the guy who does "wet work" for the CIA, and Mr marshal's training will take over in a crisis as a simple matter of "muscle memory." Oz has a hair trigger temper and the marshal is so paranoid he won't eat a cracker at a party. A woman turned 40 who works at the gym and can't afford her elective beautification surgery, in a scheme to get the needed money, enlists the aid of her coworker(s) while getting mixed up with those two loose cannons. With all the stress introduced already, what do you want to bet she doesn't get her coworker(s) killed? But if she wants to find love, she could look in her own back yard, and why can't she work out at her gym if she wants a better body? No, the wrong way to acquire the money she needs, is per Agur, "an handmaid that is heir to her mistress," money got by death out of the ordinary order of things.

Enter the "good Samaritans." Good Samaritans do things to help people; they are servants, but these servants want money to the point of blackmail, to place themselves in control over the lives of others. This is Agur's "servant when he reigneth."

Agur's result of "the earth is disquieted, and ... it cannot bear" the four factors above is that a car surveillance results in a crash, a B & E job requires some actual breaking before entering, the man's hobbyist project gets trashed, another man's possessions are left on the street, and the paranoid's reaction truly takes him outside his comfort zone. And while a cocktail party produces its own level of conversation—admiring the wide plank pine floor—, the CIA can't quite come down to that level.

These four intertwining threads with all the mischief they cause while baffling the CIA, is what makes this movie a riot of laughs. I've tried not to give too much away while preparing my reader to follow a convoluted plot, but trust me on this: it's a real hoot.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age