Intolerable Cruelty

George Clooney stars as a self-loving whiter than white toothed lawyer who is becoming bored with his never-ending success. A challenge comes in the shapely form of Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta Jones) who wants to marry (or preferably divorce) her way to riches. With Clooney hired to represent her soon to be ex husband, he inevitably falls for the gold diggers charms.

Directed by the Coen brothers, a directorial team who have helmed oddball comedies such as 'Fargo' and 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' this is the team's first branch in to a high profile Hollywood film. Clooney, as the sharp suited lawyer, is excellent. Like Cary Grant or David Niven, Clooney is able to mock himself without compensating his screen appeal. Catherine Zeta Jones as the money hungry Marilyn is as sexy as her character demands from the scripted page. However, despite the quick fire dialogue, Intolerable Cruelty is simply not as funny as it thinks, it's cynical message of love and money taking away the romantic push it needs to place it in the league of the Tracy/Hepburn films the movie aspires to. Clooney's character also suffers from an over enthusiastic plot that later drives his character to attempt to commit a crime that totally contradicts the audiences perception of him. A battle of the sexes comedy that has sex appeal but no romance, Intolerable Cruelty is a film that reaches for the golden age of Hollywood but only touches the bronze.

'Intolerable Cruelty' has panache. Clooney delivers an impressive performance, one of his best that I have seen him in. When a bad movie comes out, it's easy to eat it alive and point out every dumb thing about it. Since this movie had something going, it's hard to point out the good points and why I liked it. Let's just say that 'Intolerable Cruelty' has a story, one that holds up until the movie sells out near the very end. But the acting and the story for one thing, I give credit for, held up quite well.

Miles Massey, successful divorce lawyer, meets his match (and maker), in Marilyn Rexroth a man-eater when, after her failure to win the ex-husband's fortune, goes for the Massey pre-nup in another marriage, to intrigue her opponent.

Two thirds through the movie, everything holds up so nicely. There is wit, charisma, character on the part of Clooney and Mrs. Douglas. The story is perfect and anyone should easily pick up on. The movie is near-perfect ... until towards the end, where wit turns to cheese, charisma goes to blandness, and character goes way to the Hollywood sell-out. I hate movies that don't stay true to themselves, but I can't blame most of this movie or the Coens. It was probably in their best interest all along.

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.

I saw it recently for the second time, and even though the huge holes in the plot are still there, I liked it much more than the first time. Thinking of the holes, Coens are very talented artists - perhaps we, the audiences are supposed to be smarter than Miles Massey (George Clooney - perfectly cast) - the very successful, always victorious divorce attorney for the rich and famous? Massey is the author of unbreakable "Massey's Pre - Nup" but he is so bored and restless than maybe he is waiting for someone who would be able to break it? Enters cool and sensual Marylin Rexroth (who looks exactly like Catherine Zeta-Jones), the woman who is after "wealth, independence, and freedom" and who "eats the men like Massey for breakfast" with the glass of French red wine Château Margot, 1954. Thus starts the game of wills, wits and desires with twists in every turn. Some of them are surprising and clever, some - predictable. "Intolerable Cruelty" may not be the best Coens' film but it is enjoyable, stylish, and funny. At least two scenes closer to the end of the movie are absolutely hilarious.

Miles Massey is an amazing divorce lawyer who has a well-earned reputation. When he takes on the case of Rex Rexroth, who was caught on video cheating with another woman, he successfully wins the case and leaves the wronged wife, Marylin, with nothing. However he also falls for her, but she is planning his downfall in return for her losing everything she had.

With a big name pair of leads, it does look very much like the Coen's were looking for a big screen hit that would support their work to a greater extent than the loyal fan base does. As that sort of film, it seems to be doing OK, but, I wondered, at what cost to the product? The film starts well enough with an interesting case which we actually see little of, however the character of Miles is enough to hold the film together. The film contains the usual mix of larger than life characters and quirky humour, but the central romancing doesn't always hold true and there are stretches where the humour dips away to find that there is very little left without it.

Having said that, this doesn't occur often enough to be a problem and the film is still pretty good fun. The characters are it's making and there are enough of those to make it work. Clooney excels in the lead with a strange sort of humour - the same sort of character he played in "O Brother" if you ask me, but he does seem to have a touch for the comic stuff. Jones is less assured and her character has less of the humour I expect from the Coens and is more of a straight role. The support cast is all good as they provide small snippets of humour, whether it be Wheezy Joe or the rude waitress.

Overall it is not the cleverest film the Coen's have done, nor the funniest or most satisfying but, as a multiplex pleasing romance with quirky humour, it does work and should be enjoyed as that.