4. Osbourne Cox - Burn After Reading
Putting Malkovich together with the Coen Brothers can only mean one thing; awesomeness. The duo's knack for brilliant casting continues in their low-key thriller Burn After Reading, as Malkovich is brought aboard to play Osbourne Cox, a cantankerous CIA analyst who quits his job after facing a demotion (due to a drinking problem), to write a memoir about his career. This leads to a chain of events where his memoirs are stolen and presumed to be vital government documents, and as such he is blackmailed for their return. Malkovich proved here as he so often does how great he is at playing put-upon characters who just can't have anything go their way. His loses his memoirs, his wife files for divorce, and when she empties his bank accounts, he goes certifiably insane, murdering one of her colleagues with a hatchet before being shot into a coma at the end of the movie. Malkovich's slow-simmering frustration turns to flat out anger during several hilarious scenes, making this without question one of his very best and most entertaining performances.