Burn After Reading Page #7

Synopsis: Osbourne Cox, a Balkan expert, resigned from the CIA because of a drinking problem, so he begins a memoir. His wife wants a divorce and expects her lover, Harry, a philandering State Department marshal, to leave his wife. A CD-ROM falls out of a gym bag at a Georgetown fitness center. Two employees there try to turn it into cash: Linda, who wants money for cosmetic surgery, and Chad, an amiable goof. Information on the disc leads them to Osbourne who rejects their sales pitch; then they visit the Russian embassy. To sweeten the pot, they decide they need more of Osbourne's secrets. Meanwhile, Linda's boss likes her, and Harry's wife leaves for a book tour. All roads lead to Osbourne's house.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Director(s): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Production: Focus Features
  Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 27 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.0
Metacritic:
63
Rotten Tomatoes:
79%
R
Year:
2008
96 min
$60,338,891
Website
1,100 Views


- What you mean "get him back!"

- Information is power, Ted! Hel-lo!

What you mean "get him back!"

You don't know where he is!

Somebody has him, Ted.

We can use it to...

Call the police if you wanna get back

the missing people. And you...

I can't take it! I can't take it!

I can't take it! I can't do that!

We're operating off the map here, Ted!

This is higher then the police!

- It's higher then that!

- Linda...

I need a can-do-person, Ted!

I hate your negativity!

I hate your reasons why not!

I hate you! I hate you!

- What'll it be?

- Seven and Seven.

- Hello?

- It's Harry.

You think a marriages is...

and then it's...

But this was a long time coming.

Was it?

Well, yeah... right.

I'm just depressed and ...

I gotta excercise.

I didn't run in three days.

Butt-crunches... anything...

You think maybe I could stay here

for a little while.

Omygod!

No no no.

It can't always come from me!

I'm not that strong!

You're not here for me, Harry.

I need a can-do-person.

You are all... defeted!

Chad is the only can-do-person I know,

and he's gone. He's gone.

I'll be good, I'll be better.

I just gotta excercise.

Are there pedestrian paths or something?

Who the f*** is Chad?

He's my friend from work.

You can help me find him?

You know law unforcement people.

Could you make them call unofficialy?

Hold up. What happend?

What's his name?

Chad Feldheimer.

He just disappeared.

He hasn't been at work

or at home for two days.

Okay. You know his

social security number?

- Huh? No! I...

- Okay.

- What's the last place you saw him?

- No, I don't know. He just disappeared.

The Jamba Juice on K street.

And now he's gone.

No, okay, okay, okay.

We're gonna find your little buddy.

No. It's okay.

Piece of cake.

- Okay.

- Harry is here.

Open your mouth, open it.

Do as the doctor says, come on.

Open your mouth, come on.

Open your mouth!

And look here, young man.

You do as I say,

or I'm gonna ask your mother

to leave the doctor's room

and you and I are gonna

sort it out between us.

Hello?

I'm with a patient.

And is it the same f***ing patient

she's been with since yesterday?

You tell doctor Cox

I have the new keys.

Hello, Sunshine.

You seem better.

I snuck a little gym time this morning.

and our excercise last night didn't hurt.

Harry!

Boy. I tell you, I'm through

banging my head against the wall.

I'm gonna start doing

what's right for me.

I believe that also. I think you

have to do what's right for you

Yeah! Hell yeah! You know

I had a shock, recently,

and I realized that life is not infinite.

And no one's immortal.

I think that it's very important

to make a positive attitude.

- Always up. Always ebullient.

- Don't swear the small stuff...

- ...and it's all small stuff.

- ...and it's all small stuff.

xxx

Just for starters.

Hey boy.

- This is where we first met, you remember?

- Of course I do.

It's hard to know what the important

days are untill you...

Now I told myslef that I was gonna be

paranoid, but is that guy looking at us?

No. Have you find out

anything about Chad?

No, nothing yet.

I've made a couple of calls.

- It shouldn't take too long.

- Really?

Oh yeah, there's so many data bases

now it's a joke...

Back when I was in PP

there was still an art to finding people.

But not anymore. And the cell phones?

I mean...

Pretty soon, everybody's gonna know

where you are. At any given moment.

Any given moment.

Did he---all right...

when you left the Jamba Juice,

did Chad give you any idea

where he might be going?

- I know where he was going.

- You do?

Georgetown.

Olive Street. 160 Olive street.

It's the residence of this guy...

...Osbourne Cox

Who are you?

What?

Who are you?

The CIA, NSA, the Millitary?

Who do you work for?

Who do you work for?

Who are you?

I'm just... Linda Litzke.

You...

Harry!

Oh for Pete's sake!

And you are my wife's lover?

- No.

- And what're you doing here?

I know you.

You're the guy from gym.

- I'm not here representing Hardbodies.

- Oh yes.

I know very well what you represent.

You represent the idiocy of today.

I don't represent that, either.

Yeah. You're the guy at the gym,

when I asked about that moronic woman?

She's not a moron.

You're in league with that moronic woman.

You're part of a league of morons.

- No no.

- Oh yes.

You see, you are one of the morons

I've been fighting my whole life.

My whole f***ing life.

But guess what. Today I win.

- No! Intruder! stop!

- No!

Intruder!

Stop!

Wait. Wait a minute.

Where is the treasury guy? Pfarrer?

- Right now?

- Right now.

Um. He's in a detention room

at Washington Dallas.

Why?

He was trying to board

a flight to Venezuela.

We had his name at hotlist,

CB people den him.

Uh. Don't know why he was trying

to go to Venezuela.

- You don't know?

- No, sir.

- We have no extradition with Venezuela.

- Oh... So what should we do with him?

For f***'s sake, put him on

the next flight to Venezuela!

Yes sir. Okay.

- Okay. So the gym manager is dead?

- Yes, sir.

- The body is---

- Oh, that's gone, sir.

- Okay.

- But there was a... snag.

What?

Well, this analyst, Cox,

was attacking the gym guy.

And it was broad daylight,

on the street.

Our man did not know what to do.

He felt he had to step in.

- Yes?

- He shot the analyst. He shot Cox.

- Good. Great. Is he dead?

- No, sir. He's in a coma.

Uh. They don't think he's gonna make it.

They don't think...

They're pretty sure that

he has no brain function.

Okay, okay. If he wakes up we'll worry

about it then. Jesus, what a clusterfuck.

So that's it then.

No one else really knows anything?

- Well sir, there is...

- What?

- Um...

- What?

There's the woman, The gym woman.

Linda Litzke.

Oh f*** yeah! God!

Where is she?

- We picked her up. We have her.

- We have her?! To do what with?!

She says she'll play ball

if we pay for some...

I know this sounds odd---

some surgeries that she wants.

Cosmetic surgery.

She said she'll sit on everything.

How much?

There were several procedures,

all together they run to...

- Pay it.

- Yes. Okay. Yeah.

- Jesus f***ing Christ!

- Yeah.

- What did we learn, Palmer?

- I don't know, sir.

I don't f***ing know either.

- I guess we learnd not to do it again.

- Yes, sir.

- I'm f***ed if I know what we did.

- Yes, sir. It's hard to say.

Jesus f***ing Christ!

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Joel Coen

Joel Coen was born on November 29, 1954 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA as Joel Daniel Coen. He is a producer and writer, known for No Country for Old Men (2007), The Big Lebowski (1998) and Fargo (1996). He has been married to Frances McDormand since April 1, 1984. They have one child. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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