4/5
Coen Farce
by H. Semones (Denver, CO United States)
There is a point in Intolerable Cruelty where George Clooney is giving a key note speech professing his love that is long enough to make you suspect the Coen brothers have "sold out" into schmaltz. Wrong! The film, in typical Coen style, dives into as many twists and turns as is needed in a good thriller. Fortunately, the film is a comedic farce.
Clooney plays Miles Massey, the most prominent divorce lawyer in southern California. A man so good at what he does he has a prenuptial contract named after him. Massey's good and he knows it. Near the beginning of the film, he and his assistant, Wrigley (Paul Adelstein), are chatting about how boring Massey's life has become while a sweating client sits between them as the client's wife describes how she was used as a sex slave. Massey is that confident of himself.
And confidence is what Clooney is all about. He is simply incredible. Swaggering around like a peacock while checking to make sure his teeth are clean, Clooney gives his best performance. There is no denying his charm here. Even when he's being a prig.
Enter Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a woman who's only goal is to marry a rich man, catch him in some indiscretion and divorce him for half of what he's worth. She wants to be independent she claims. Massey falls for her completely. She is his match in game-playing and confidence and he must have her.
Thus sets up the Coens' romantic comedy farce. It's bizarre at times, but humorous throughout as one coincidental incident sets-up another and turns all the characters on both of their ears. This is probably their fluffiest piece ever, but highly entertaining nonetheless.
3/5
uneven film with a most beautiful woman
by Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA)
I doubt that there are two more strikingly attractive actors in movies today than George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Zeta-Jones, in particular, has the kind of classic beauty that puts her right up there with the great screen legends of all time, women like Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn, who, with their ravishing good looks and photogenic quality, came to define the ideal of female pulchritude in their time.
Credit the Coen Brothers, who made "Intolerable Cruelty," with having the good sense to know what they had in these two stars and for exploiting it to the full. They have allowed the actors to play off their good looks, most especially Ms. Zeta-Jones, portraying an icy gold-digger who specializes in marrying rich men with the express purpose of taking them for everything they've got once the marriage is ended. Clooney is the first-rate divorce lawyer who finally meets his match when he falls under the spell of this strangely bewitching woman.
The major joy in "Intolerable Cruelty" comes from watching these two tremendously attractive stars go at one another - be it in lust, passion or anger. Miles and Marylin are both seasoned game-players and world-class manipulators who know how to get the better of the hapless victims who stumble headlong into their paths. Unfortunately, the film itself never lives up to its promise of becoming a slashing satire on the mores of our divorce-happy society. The main reason for this is that the script often shoots too low in its tone, opting for an overly broad, slapstick approach when a slyer, subtler style is what's really called for. It's not that "Intolerable Cruelty" doesn't provide its fair share of laughs; it's just that we feel there should be a whole lot more of them given the pedigree of the film's makers and the high-powered acting of its amazingly gifted cast.
In addition to Clooney and Zeta-Jones - who hit all the right notes in their playing off one another - the lineup also includes Geoffrey Rush, Billy Bob Thornton, Edward Herrmann, Richard Jenkins and Cedric the Entertainer, who steals the few scenes he's in with his manic interpretation of a private investigator who specializes in capturing wayward spouses in compromising positions.
Perhaps, "Intolerable Cruelty," for all its moments of mirth and fun, simply doesn't go far enough into the realm of outrageousness to make the concept really work. The Coen Brothers, who have proven themselves masters of the absurd in the past, for some reason seem to be holding back in this film, going for the easy laugh and the easy sentiment when what we really want is for them to cut loose and go for the jugular (as Danny De Vito did with similar material in "The War of the Roses" so many years ago). Maybe Miles and Marylin need to be a little more nasty, a trifle more cutthroat in their demeanor to bring it all to life.
"Intolerable Cruelty" offers some hearty chuckles and some definite eye-candy in the person of Ms. Zeta-Jones, but, when all is said and done, the film is mainly just promises and not enough delivery.
3/5
The Chemistry Is Missing.
by Steve Guardala (?????)
This film seemed to be a modern version of the romantic comedies of the 50's & 60's. it was overloaded with dialogue, some sight gags, & a few well-timed sexual references provided the laughs. George Clooney plays divorce lawyer Miles Massey who is at a crossroads in his life. Catherine Zeta Jones plays Marilyn Rexroth who is divorcing her cheating husband. The latter appears immune to the formers charms. But soon, the predictable path to the films conclusion is clearly in sight. The courtromm scenes dragged & CZJ & GC simply lacked the sexual sparks that would have made this a four star film. I give it three stars because, the supporting cast of Julia Duffy, Billy Bob Thornton, & Cedric the entertainer provided the laughs. Perhaps, Anjelina Jolie & Brad Pitt would have pulled it off?
4/5
Picking on Cary.
by tvtv3 (Sorento, IL United States)
When I first saw the previews for INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, I thought to myself, "Oh, great, another romantic comedy." Then I saw it was a Coen brothers' picture. I knew then that this wasn't going to be the typical romantic comedy. And it's not.
The Coen's have a knack for updating old films and giving them their own little twist (THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, O'BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?). In INTOLERABLE CRUELTY the Coen's update those charming 1930-1950's romantic comedies (often starring Cary Grant or somebody with his looks) that we love so much. Clooney is once again the lead man playing a lawyer who has it all, but love. In some ways, his character is a continuation of the one he played in O'BROTHER, for example in O'BROTHER his character was fascinated by his hair and in INTOLERABLE CRUELTY his character is obsessed with his teeth. Both films deal with a journey, but this time Clooney's character already is king of his world and he hasn't lost his kingdom (at least not initially).
Catherine Zeta-Jones turns in a delightful performance as the man-hater trying to catch a rich husband. Zeta-Jones is a wonderful actress and for a change, it's a joy seeing someone who has a more, realistic figure, than many of the other leading ladies currently at the top of the game in Hollywood.
The plot of INTOLERABLE CRUELTY is as convoluted as every other Coen picture and would take awhile to explain. Under an average director, the film would have suffered terribly. However, using that charming Coen wit, the brothers have taken a somewhat, cheesy parody and turned into a comic delight, complete with a happy ending. Both men and the women they love will enjoy this film. It's the perfect date movie.
3/5
Still clever, but so uneven, the sparks never quite fly
by Samuel McKewon (Lincoln, NE)
"Intolerable Cruelty" might be the first Coen Brothers film uncomfortable its own skin. Oh, it has the usual collection of inspired sequences mixed with an equal portion of needless ones - which could be said any Joel and Ethan C film not named "Fargo." What's surprising is how many styles the film tries - straight romance, black comedy, full-blown madcap - without finding one that suits it. George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones both look great, and they certainly look like they'd be great together in something. But not this movie.
Clooney is Miles Massey, an iceman divorce attorney that turns sure losers inside out by - well let's say his skill is more or less assumed and undefined. Zeta-Jones, with a movie star look that makes most Hollywood glamour girls look like coquettes, is gold digger Marilyn Rexroth, whose second husband (Edward Herrmann) is caught in a hotel room (literally) doing the choo-choo dance with his mistress by video camera-toting PI (Cedric The Entertainer, drilling his one funny note into the Earth).
It's a worthy case for Miles, who's grown tired of making deals. Then he sees Marilyn slink into the negotiating room, and, in the one thing we can believe about "Intolerable Cruelty," falls hard for her. Miles and Marilyn will duel once, then twice, then a third and a fourth time in a movie that quietly aspires to the cruel, violent theatrics of "The War of the Roses" without taking the same mean risks. Unlike that wicked Danny DeVito film, which freely peddled to its audience a lusty hatred for the characters, the Coens feel the need to straddle us. The remainder of the film is filled with their quirky bit characters (the hitman and the "senior partner" are pretty hilarious) and what passes for chemistry between the leads.
Zeta-Jones is luminous. But her bored, distracted performance is nearly an insult for a plot that requires a certain amount of pep - her level, composed gaze is fetching for about half the movie, but then we'd like her to have a pulse. Clooney plays the ham as if to do the work for both of them, gawking and mugging and flopping around like a fool. Coupled with performances in "Solaris" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," Clooney almost seems to trying to work against his movie star looks and delivery. The bright spot is Billy Bob Thornton in a cameo as one of Marilyn's husbands, a petroleum heir that used to play a little tight end at Texas A&M. His presence is short-lived.
The Coens usually deliver a dash of visual flair; that's missing in "Intolerable Cruelty," unless Zeta-Jones counts as scenery. So is their nose for consistent, flashy verbal gymnastics, as at least three long bits - an opening sequence with Geoffrey Rush as a TV producer, a ridiculous "Who's On First?" riff in the courtroom, and a speech delivered by Miles at a Las Vegas seminar - whiff entirely. And Clooney nerdy sidekick, played by Paul Adelstein, could be the most poorly conceived character the brothers have ever created.
Much was made of the Coens' partnership with producer Brian Grazer on this film in an effort, like Woody Allen with Dreamworks, to make a "commercial" - read: moneymaking - picture. Outside of "O Brother, Where Art Thou," which had a cultlike following because of its bluegrass soundtrack, none of the Coen films - not even "Fargo," now widely considered one of the best films ever made, - hit the bank in their first runs. "Intolerable Cruelty" is no more mainstream, really - in some ways, it's the antithesis of what audiences crave - it just has a better marketing campaign. If the final gross helps finance another great Coen film, so be it; otherwise, it's a shiny suit the brothers didn't need.
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