[Osborne Cox] isn't even a CIA agent; he's an analyst, and his talents are deemed sufficiently inconsequential that he is fired from his position, much to the chagrin of his frosty wife Katie (Tilda Swinton). Katie is secretly having an affair with Harry (George Clooney), a married federal marshal. She is also secretly planning to divorce Osborne, a process that involves her copying data from their computer to a disc to hand over to her lawyer.

At the same time, Hardbodies gym employee Linda (Frances McDormand) consults with a plastic surgeon on ways to reverse the evidence of encroaching middle age. So when she and the dim-bulb fitness consultant Chad (Brad Pitt) discover the lost data disc, also containing a draft of Cox's pathetic CIA memoirs, in the gym's change room, Linda conspires with Chad to blackmail Cox.

It's funny when Malcovich's character rants about all the stupid people he has fought against in his career. But it's also sobering, and more than a little depressing, to conclude that, more than any other character, [John Malkovich] may be speaking on behalf of [Joel] and [Ethan Coen].