Intolerable Cruelty Review

by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)
October 16th, 2003
Intolerable Cruelty

Rental

Intolerable Cruelty lacks the sublime satire of the Hudsucker Proxy, or the loving character sketches of Fargo, the shrewd retelling of O Brother Where Art Thou, or even the wacky, semi-surreal comedy of Raising Arizona. Cruelty is a bizarro "standard" romantic comedy which was rendered bizarro by a hybridization of the Coen's deft skill with making unlikeable people likeable, and the over test-marketed standard of Imagine Entertainment. I think if it had been made by anyone else, I would only have been a little frustrated. But my standards have to be higher.

I love the Coen Brothers, and when they are left alone and allowed to do what they do best, they rarely, if ever, disappoint. I have been anticipating this release for some time, and I am very sorry to say that this is one of those rare times. I rate this film Rental because to see George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones snap crackle and pop on screen is the main pleasure this film affords, and when it is happening, it is divine. So I want you to see that!

However, the magic between them was so bogged down by story and character issues I just wanted to cry. As did my companion. Clearly this movie was tested to death, or at least, to the death of the Coen's trademark magic. The film begins with the pleasant surprise of Geoffrey Rush, driving home to a sideline plotline that should have been snipped excet for its usefulness to establish Clooney as a crack divorce attorney. The film middles with another pleasantventure (and too little used) with Billy Bob Thornton, and leaves that behind too quickly and without using it to the story's advantage. Then the crackling grinds to an end and the crazy, cheesy parts start cropping up more and more frequently. When I laughed, I laughed a lot. When I swooned, I swooned but good. But the rest of the time was spent wishing I could be laughing and swooning.
Carter Burwell and Roger Deakins, Coen vets, provide their usual level of mastery and skill to the tale, and no actor can be faulted for how much or how little he or she was afforded on screen. Clooney and Zeta-Jones dive head first into their roles and play them so fervently you almost are exhausted from the effort; but they are given empty words to speak when they should be the most meaningful, and over-ponderous claptrap right when we should be moving along.
Cap that with a "WTF" ending and you have one unhappy Coen lover in the audience. I still love them, I love the actors, I love the idea, even, but somewhere in partnering with all those extra screenwriters and producers, they lost what makes them special.

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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource

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