One Chaotic Scene After Another

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2016)

"Osbourne Cox" (John Malkovich) is a low-level CIA analyst who is experiencing difficulties at the office in large part because of his drinking. Naturally, his poor performance hasn't gone unnoticed but rather than accept a lesser assignment and continue getting paid he decides to quit in a fit of rage. Needless to say, this doesn't make his wife "Katie" (Tilda Swinton) very happy because his income was the only reason she has put up with him. To further complicate the situation is the fact that she is currently having an affair with an agent for the Treasury Department named "Harry Pfarrer" (George Clooney) who she mistakenly believes is in love with her. However, before she files for divorce she decides to hack into her husbands computer and copy all the data pertaining to his finances onto a blank CD. What she doesn't know is that, in addition to his bank account numbers, she has also copied the first part of her husband's memoirs as well. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal but when this CD is lost--and subsequently found by some employees of a local gymnasium--things get greatly convoluted after that. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie had some good bits and pieces here and there with the performance of Brad Pitt (as the bumbling gym employee named "Chad Feldheimer") probably being the best. Unfortunately, in spite of the rather prominent cast, the overall film seemed more like a collection of scenes strung together which tended to give the picture a rather uneven feel overall. That being the case I have rated it accordingly. Average.