After the award-winning, critically acclaimed adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men,” one could be excused for thinking that the Coen brothers were growing up. You know, maybe they’d pull a Clint Eastwood and round out their careers making prestige pictures. Oh, how wrong we were.

For the Coens, plots are almost always convoluted and inconsequential. To say that a disk containing the memoirs of a low-level CIA agent (Malkovich) ends up in the hands of a pair of extortionate gym employees (Pitt and McDormand) completely misses the point. For one, it leaves out a charming treasury agent (Clooney), his boorish mistress (Swinton), and numerous confused government officials.

This may sound like the setup to a serious, intelligent espionage thriller. But these are the Coens we’re talking about, and the pair that refuse to take everything seriously are following up the heights of critical acclaim with possibly their stupidest comedy yet. A veritable celebration of idiocy, it’s a big “fuck you” to all us would-be film aficionados eagerly awaiting another opus like “No Country for Old Men.” From dumbing down its “Ocean’s” duo (Clooney and Pitt) into a pair of endlessly loveable losers (they share one particularly hilarious split-second scene together), to transforming the normally-reserved thespians Malkovich and Swinton into verbal bile-spewing arrogant asses with massive superiority complexes, they’ve all but destroyed any notion of the directors “maturing.”

Yes, admittedly, the spy spoof plot is peppered with enough social satire to choke a red elephant, taking potshots at bureaucracy, mid-life malaise and all the traits of a disillusioned empire at its knees. But hey, that’s for the second viewing. The first time around, take comfort in the return of the comedy Coens. This is their funniest film yet.

4 Stars by Pavan Shamdasani.

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt. Category TBC. 96 minutes.