The Coen brothers have yet to fail to impress me as a viewer.Intolerable Cruelty marks the 10th film by the eccentricwriting/directing brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. Their films are allvery unique and distinct from one another, yet there is nomistaking the identity of the masterminds behindsuch films as Fargo, The Big Lebowski and O Brother,Where Art Thou?
For over a decade, the filmmakers have becomeauteurs who enjoy making particular genre films on their ownterms. They’ve managed to tackle the Hitchcockthriller/mystery, the gangster films of the ‘30s, the musicaland even film noir. Now they seem to be playing homage to thescrewball comedies, in particular Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble inParadise (1932). In that film, Herbert Marshall plays a gentlemanjewel thief, Miriam Hopkins plays the con-woman who adores him, andKay Francis is the rich widow who thinks she can buy him but iscontent to rent him for a while.
Intolerable Cruelty is told from the perspective of MilesMassey (George Clooney), a wealthy and famous divorce attorney, whofalls hard for Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones),a beautiful woman who has one goal in life: toobtain wealth and independence.
Not that impractical.
However, Miles is so head-over-heels for her that he iswilling to destroy the legendary “Masseypre-nup”, a prenuptial agreement so ironclad that fellowdivorce lawyers fear just the mention of it.
In the Coen brothers’ film world, it is againstthe law for events to unfold in a conventional manner. Todivulge deeply into the plot would be pointless.
What matters is that the comedy and the timing of the actingbetween Clooney and Zeta-Jones is so crucial to the film that hadthey not been able to convincingly recite their lines of dialogue(including lines of classic literature as witty repartee) andgestures to the precise key moments necessary, thewhole thing may have fallen apart. They are both brilliant.And unfortunately, comedy, especially of this type, usuallygoes overlooked or unnoticed because when it works perfectly itseems effortless.
Viewers beware: Intolerable Cruelty has been marketed as amainstream film. But this act by studio execs is as deceitful asthe actions of Miles and Marylin.
Underneath lies dark twists and comedic episodesthat are stapled with the Coen brothers’ funnycommentary and lampooning of conspicuous consumption,immorality and social inequity.
