Two gym instructors accidentally stumble across and try to sell a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent Osborne Cox, who has recently resigned from the agency in a fit of pique. Their attempts at blackmail go wildly awry, gradually engulfing Osborne Cox’s estranged wife and her lover, whose involvement triggers a series of tragic consequences. In Burn After Reading Joel and Ethan Coen take on the spy thriller genre and reinvent it in their unique voice - combining humour and violence in completely unexpected ways, and wrapping it all up with the verbal dexterity that makes their work so distinctive.