Everybody laughed

Rating: 8/10 (24 October 2008)

This is a really funny movie. It seemed like everyone in the theater enjoyed it -- there was frequent loud and extended laughter. The last line (spoken by the ubiquitous J.K. Simmons) got the loudest laugh of all. I am amazed at the negative comments from other IMDb users. Perhaps they saw some other movie titled "Burn After Reading."
These characters were not designed to be taken seriously. Part of the fun was in the repetition of bizarre behavior. Brad Pitt was especially funny, with his gum-chewing, head-bopping characterization of a naive, not-too-smart personal trainer. John Malkovitch and George Clooney are masters of this kind of stuff, and Tilda Swinton got laughs out of her trademark uptight persona, carried to the nth degree.
And what can I say about Frances MacDormand? She has been terrific in every part I've even seen her in.
Only Richard Jenkins seems to be in another movie, a more sensitive tearjerker, not this uproarious black comedy.
Back to J.K. Simmons --that man must be the most fully employed actor in movies or television. Whoever his agent is (probably it's not Broadway Danny Rose) that person deserves a raise.