Review
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY
Starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones
Directed by Joel Coen
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While Intolerable Cruelty is the least Coen-esque film in the brothers’ repertoire, their touches are unmistakable. Bizarre deaths, creepy secondary characters and scene lengths that breathe so much they might hyperventilate all lay the groundwork for what can only be described as an old-school love romp – Coen style.
George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a divorce lawyer who is renowned for his killer instinct and bored with his own seemingly limitless successes. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Marylin Rexroth, the match he’s longing to meet. She is the farthest thing from a gay divorcee – she is deadly serious about the whole business.
After Massey is invited to a supremely disturbing pep talk from a senior partner, he has a mild meltdown. He almost starts to think that his parasitical ways may not lead to ultimate happiness. In a complete, if temporary, turnaround, Massey gives a particularly funny spin on Gordon Gecko’s famous "Greed is Good" speech to a room full of hardened divorce lawyers.
As in O Brother Where Art Thou, Clooney plays the gloriously vain know-it-all beautifully. His trip from top-of-the-world hard-ass to goofy love-sap spills out all over his face. Zeta-Jones, on the other hand, has to play a much more contained role, so she never strays far from the Ice Queen.
The movie relies heavily on Clooney to carry the comedy and he rises to the challenge. And despite being in such good company, it was quite a feat. Much of the dialogue is not particularly funny – there are several odes to the old Abbot and Costello "Who’s On First?" riff, but they are fairly clumsy – and many of the characters are pretty pedestrian and predictable. In most movies these would be big problems, but the Coens are able to elevate the film through cleverly shot scenes, costumes, props and even the ornate opening credits. In spite of the writing faults, Intolerable Cruelty is a frothy treat that feels like you are on holidays with the Coen Brothers. |
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