Release Date: October 10, 2003

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and brief violence

Written and Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Starring: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cedric the Entertainer, Julia Duffy, Geoffrey Rush, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Adelstein, John Bliss, Mia Cottet, Kristin Datillo, Edward Herrmann, Stacey Travis

Plot:
A slick Beverly Hills divorce lawyer (Clooney) frames the wife (Zeta-Jones) of a client to get him released from the marriage without a settlement. She vows to get revenge by marrying the attorney, aiming to take him to the cleaners in their own savage divorce, but what she doesn't expect is that she falls in love with him in the process.

Review:
A Tarantino and a coen brothers film coming out the same weekend. It was indeed a surprise to me, but a whole lot of fun. Joel and Ethan Coen deliver yet another film. This is a great addition to their filmagrophy I must say. This film surprised me in so many ways. They again deliver the same fun and witty dialogue that makes their other films so great.

George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones form perfect chemistry together. They are fine looking actors and you can sense the romance to almost be real in this film. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a Beverly Hills lawyer for divorces. He is all about his work, until he meets Marylin Rexroth played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. He fights and fights to get her to like him. They play very sarcastic and sassy roles. They deliver their lines with ease and you can sense that they are not shy at all and know what they want. A gold digger and a lawyer, hell of a combination.

Besides being a comedy, Intolerable Cruelty has a solid plot. It focuses more on a professional level with a taste of Coen humor. In most of the film, Miles is trying to win Marylin from Howard's hands. This leads to a very odd situation and Clooney provides us with charm, wit and humor.

Everyones sense of humor is different and you either won't like how the Coen Brothers deliver comedy or you will adore it. If you are a fan of their comedies than you will enjoy it nonetheless. Either way, I prefer their more serious efforts from the Coen Brothers such as Blood Simple, Fargo and Miller's Crossing. However, Big Lebowski is their best for laughs, no doubt about it.

Ditch Michael Douglas and I'm all yours.

They really developed the characters well in this film. The first hour was completely devoted to setting up Miles and Marylins attractions toward each other. Then came the fights for the prenuptial agreement. Can a woman truly win you over to do whatever she wants to you and make you do as she wants. I don't think I'm the one to ask about that, but as men, we need to have some brains and know that some way, some how, a woman is going to outbeat us in any slick prank or crime.

Billy Bob Thorton played a small role, but played it pretty well. He was a non-stop talker and was one of the many husbands Marylin had. How can he fall for this? He looked like a dumb character. Are we men clueless and cannot see this coming? He sure didn't. Get out of here Billy Bob, shes out of your league, so to speak.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opening credits. It was some of the most original and entertaining opening credits of the year. Cupid works out very well for this flick. From the opening credits to the end credits this movie gives you a few laughs, some of the best romance of the year and a nice motion picture indeed. Its nice to have this fun, light and dazzling picture come along once in a while.

Intolerable Cruelty is definetely one of the better romantic comedies of the year and it is an improvement over the Coen Brothers last film, The Man Who Wasn't there. Next year they are delivering a film called The Ladykillers featuring Tom Hanks. I eagerly await that film and hopefully their talent shines in that film as well.

Intolerable Cruelty

Rating: