If this movie wasn't directed by the fine eye of the Coens, one would qualify it as a stupid movie by stupid people. Yet the Coens have showcased their comical range, from "The Big Lebowski" to "Intolerable Cruelty" and with "Burn After Reading" they choose to a silent wink into audiences of humor movies of today.
In the film, people know that a disk of the CIA should be important, should bring money, but they cannot fathom to understand how or where to use it. They are scabbards of a society that teaches what is good and bad without explaining. Thus, we are converted into stupid people with stupid plans. The laughing parts are dry, mainly because of the lack of empathy to the common viewer, but this is what creates it's unique style: not to laugh at them, but to laugh at ourselves, and our suppressed modern Neanderthal.
In the film, people know that a disk of the CIA should be important, should bring money, but they cannot fathom to understand how or where to use it. They are scabbards of a society that teaches what is good and bad without explaining. Thus, we are converted into stupid people with stupid plans. The laughing parts are dry, mainly because of the lack of empathy to the common viewer, but this is what creates it's unique style: not to laugh at them, but to laugh at ourselves, and our suppressed modern Neanderthal.