Worth Checking Out but Not Among Coen Brothers Best

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 2008)

The plot of this film was difficult at times to fully understand how things developed the way they did. As the trailer for the movie indicated, a CD containing classified information fell into the hands of Chad (Brad Pitt), a good natured if somewhat bone-headed fitness instructor, who comes up with the idea of selling it back to its rightful owner, a recently fired CIA Agent named Osborne Cox (John Malkevich). Linda (Frances McDormand) works with Chad at the fitness club. She has an internet dating service hookup with Harry (George Clooney) who is also having an affair with Katie (Tilda Swinton), who happens to be married to Osborne Cox. There were numerous other backstories & sexual intrigue, yet one thing that seemed to resonate throughout the film was that everyone is unfaithful & screwing someone else. And it all seemed so pathetically joyless. The sex displayed in the movie seemed like a publicity campaign for celibacy or at the very least a knock on internet dating services.
The bad sex notwithstanding, what was less than clear was how the CD found its way to the gym where Chad happened to find it on the floor. We're left to assume it got there by way of Linda, but the film doesn't show when or how she got it. I suppose it doesn't matter all that much, yet I found that small detail just a little frustrating.
All of the performances were excellent. I particularly liked George Clooney's role. He played the philandering Treasury agent Harry, with a goofy demeanor, not unlike his character in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" or as the lawyer in "Intolerable Cruelty". There were many hilarious scenes, particularly funny was when Chad & Linda tried to sell the CD to the Russians (they called on the Russian Consulate after Osborne declined to pay their ransom demand). JK Simmons played a high level CIA chief with his usual comically bombastic demeanor displayed so well as JJ Jamison in the Spiderman movies.
As far as Coen brothers films go, I would rate this in the middle of the pack. But as Woody Allen once commented about Sex and Pizza, "Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good".