intolerable cruelty review

The Coens sometimes have a way of standing to one side of their work: It's the puppet and they're the ventriloquists. You want an ass nailed you call Gus Petch. Alphaville Films, December 24, 2010 Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified. When the suffering is finished, slow spells find themselves broken up by obnoxiously frantic points which join thin characterization, improbability and genericism in reflecting a fluffy thinness that renders the final product, underwhelming, if not forgettable, in spite of the striking scoring and cinematographic highlights, lively direction, colorful writing, and thoroughly charismatic cast - from which George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones stand out, partly with their effective chemistry - that make "Intolerable Cruelty" a generally fun hyper-mainstream, if under-inspired Coen brothers endeavor. Review: The Dark and the Wicked Is an Impressively Sustained Freak-Out. You want tact you call a tactician. Nothing they make is ever entirely unwatchable. Miles Massey is wealthy beyond reason, dashingly good looking, always immaculately attired, admired by colleagues, worshipped by clients, more accomplished than any person has a right to even dream and utterly bored with life. Very good work. The Coens recruit recurring collaborators Carter Burwell and Roger Deakins, who have delivered time and again on unique and inspired score work and cinematography, and are, of course, held back from really fleshing out their artistic vision for this film, which still has highlights in which Burwell delivers on colorful, classically-charged scoring, while Deakins delivers on clean, sometimes memorably distinguished cinematography. We meet him in divorce court, representing an outraged husband (Geoffrey Rush) who surprised his wife with the pool man and found that odd, since they didn't have a pool. The question is, does she want him? Intolerable Cruelty (2003) Parents Guide Add to guide . Now, that's not to say that I like this nearly as much as "The Man Who Wasn't There", but it's hard to get bored when George Clooney is charming up the joint, while Catherine Zeta-Jones evidently shops at clothes stores whose shirts and blouses never feature necks, and Cedric the Entertainer shows up somewhere along the way. Parents need to know that this movie has some mature material for a PG-13, including adulterous situations and some mildly kinky sexual references (nothing explicit and no nudity). The puppet is sincere, but the puppetmaster is wagging his eyebrows at the audience and asking, can you believe this stuff? | Rotten (46). There plenty of fun notes to the Coens' script, and they do justice to a certain fun factor to subject matter that, no matter how improbable, formulaic and altogether near-cloyingly mainstream, has plenty of fluffy value that is kept adequately lively by highlights in the Coens' storytelling, but truly anchored by a cast that is perhaps more respectable than it ought to be for a film of its time. But does she want to marry a millionaire, or simply become one herself? As Miles, Clooney doesn't make any direct emotional appeal to the audience and yet his high style is so smashingly effective that Miles stands open to us: macher, lover, patsy. Miles Massey (George Clooney) is an exceptional divorce lawyer who specializes in saving cheating husbands from having to pay expensive settlements. Since she really doesn't, Miles can only look on in wonderment and admiration. Your AMC Ticket Confirmation# can be found in your order confirmation email. Don't have an account? We want him to win her. Miles wins the case, so it's curious that Marylin wants to hire him to draft a Massey Pre-Nup for her next marriage, which will be to a gulping, blushing Texas oil billionaire named Howard (Billy Bob Thornton in full display). Some must be disappointed to find the Coens conforming to Hollywood conventions, and I'd imagine every one of those people neglected to check the gross revenues of this rom-com and the gritty period noir "The Man Who Wasn't There" and see which one made a little over $101,000,000 more. Both characters are sharks, but both are human, too, and their mutual sexual attraction is so palpable you could cook with it. We sympathize with this desire, because we share it. Miles, who is already gob-smacked with Marylin's bewitching sex appeal, can't understand why she wants to marry a yahoo like Howard. Film. You have *no* *idea*. rank among the Coens' most conceptually inconsequential opuses, yet they somehow ended up also up their among the filmmakers' best, the Coens placed so much inspiration into crafting strong films through all of the fluff, which, in this case, triumphs intensely, with a frantic, improbable cheesiness that renders the final product not simply underwhelming, but barely memorable. If you missed this excellent film at theaters years ago, watch it now. Showing all 11 items Jump to: Certification; Sex & Nudity (5) Violence & Gore (3) Profanity (2) Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (1) Certification. MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and brief violence: Certification: We enjoy many turns of the screw in this movie, but there comes a time when the screw is seated and they keep turning until they strip the groove. This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. All rights reserved. It is hard to show the Coens' distancing process at work without revealing the movie's secrets, but let me try. Verified Purchase. The plot is utterly improbable in more than a few ways, and I reckon that's intentional, yet moments in which the Coens go well beyond the top make it more difficult to deny the cheesiness of this hopelessly mainstream dark comedy that would be worth embracing if it wasn't also derivative. Hitherto, notwithstanding the odd lift from Sturges and Capra, Hammett and Homer, the Coen Brothers have always worked from their own material. You know that it was Coens' name that made a cast this solid come calling, but now that it's here, each member, despite being unevenly used, charms, whether it be Billy Bob Thornton as the charismatic and fast-talking southwestern man of business, or Edward Herrmann as an awkwardly anxious man who cannot afford a divorce, or Cedric the Entertainer as a delightfully smooth and proud private investigator, or Paul Adelstein as the near-adorable right-hand to George Clooney's hardened role. and the Terms and Policies, Time Out says. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. |, January 15, 2004 The problem with Intolerable Cruelty is that it gets caught halfway in between being a regular studio movie and a Coen Brothers movie. She has a video, taken by her detective Gus (Cedric the Entertainer) exposing Rex as a cheater, and wants to win his millions in the settlement. The Coen brothers may be thought of as the most independent-minded of independents, but they have been known to flirt with the mainstream. Clooney as divorce attorney Miles Massey is flawless, as is Catherine Zeta-Jones as conniving goldigger Marilyn Rexroth. Review: Intolerable Cruelty. Intolerable Cruelty Review Classification: 12A Director: Joel Coen The Coen Brothers’ latest wink to cinema history is Intolerable Cruelty, a battle of the sexes-themed romantic comedy surrounding the legal trade in rich Hollywood husbands. Intolerable Cruelty is a rarity among contemporary Hollywood comedies in that it actually has gags: clever and funny lines crafted and honed by writers who are targeting their material at grown-ups. I was not expecting this gem; it was very funny and subtle in a way that only the Coen brothers can pull off. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. The soundtrack for the Coen Brothers' romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty features a witty array of pop songs and excerpts from Carter Burwell's equally witty score. Intolerable Cruelty is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Joel and Ethan Coen, and produced by Brian Grazer and the Coens. Stereotypes are skewered, and deception and hustling run rampant. Plots like this have fueled lovely screwball comedies, and "Intolerable Cruelty" is in the genre, but somehow not of it. Cinemark The humor (which pokes fun at the wealthy Beverly Hills community) is sharp and full of wit, and there are several laugh-out-loud moments, but the real comedy comes from the performances, which are zany and charismatic and reminiscent of the screwball comedies of the 30s and the 40s. It's not a long list. Most Hollywood comedies these days are so painfully unfunny that Intolerable Cruelty comes as a breath of fresh air. But, aw, come on, when she walks across the room and his heart leaps up, or when she looks at him in a closeup that undresses itself, what makes the Coens pull back from this emotion? I promise you'll love it. The balance between love and manipulation has never been funnier; it's a romantic black comedy if that makes any sense. I couldn’t disagree more: it has Gus Petch, Rex Rexroth, Wheezy Joe and Heinz The Baron Kraus Von Espe among its lineup of classic characters for a … [laughing] Oh, Mr. Massey. Its got a wonderful supporting cast: Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Hermann, and especially Julia Duffy-perfectly cast. |, February 9, 2006 Intolerable Cruelty Directed by Joel Coen Rated M. The spirit of Hollywood's great satirist Preston Sturges looks down on the Coen brothers' screwball comedy, Intolerable Cruelty, doing it a … I was reminded of Lubitsch's great "Trouble in Paradise," which is about a con man, a con woman who loves him but can't afford him, and a rich widow who thinks she can buy him but would be happy enough to rent him for the season. Rated PG-13 She has the kind of beauty that could melt a divorce lawyer's heart and soften his brain, which is what happens in "Intolerable Cruelty," the new comedy by the Coen Brothers. 'Intolerable Cruelty' isn't Joel and Ethan at the top of their game and is incredibly uneven, but it's still fairly middle-of-the-road entertainment. Intolerable Cruelty is a solid romantic screwball comedy and 100 enjoyable mins of light entertainment. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. The story/script are good, the acting was good (even by Clooney), CZJ was excellent (don't know why she isn't feature in more movies), and the filmaking was good. Cedric must have misunderstood what people meant when they said that the Coens were working on a new "black" comedy, because I don't know how he ended up working with the Coen brothers, although the Coens do seem to be trying a little too hard to be mainstream with this film. Read full review Great value price for £4.99 for this digital download. | Top Critics (54) Of course she wants his money; that goes with the territory. |, September 24, 2007 Edit. Forgot your password? | Rating: 4/5 The combatants are attorney Miles Massey (George Clooney) and fortune-hunter Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Review by GarethSlade ★★★★ I seem to remember the consensus being that Intolerable Cruelty was very much a lesser entry from the Coen Brothers on release. The materials are available in "Intolerable Cruelty" to create a movie with an irresistible comic payload, so why must they skew it into a warning against itself? Massey is hired by Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), who has been briefly married to Marylin (Zeta-Jones). With that said, Joel and Ethan Coen get to be mighty messy even with their scripting, but if there is any kind of razor-sharp wit to this overly mainstream affair, it is found within the Coens' snappy, if a little busy dialogue and audaciously, if not shamelessly over-the-top comic set pieces. That said: The movie has many scenes of delicious comedy, Cloo-ney and Zeta-Jones play their characters perfectly in an imperfect screenplay, and the man with the asthma puffer gets the biggest single laugh since the hair gel in "There's Something About Mary.". Glitz, glamour, comedy and Clooney and [
Catherine] Zeta-Jones. PG-13 (Language|Brief Violence|Sexual Content), The KL Line, Don’t worry, it won’t take long. `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. Add it to your video library at a great Best Buy price. Imagine Entertainment, Great classic Coen Brothers comedy and George Clooney excells in the role as an over ambitious lawyer. Nothing they make is ever entirely unwatchable. |, January 5, 2018 Reviews Intolerable Cruelty | Review. But he meets his match when he runs into a woman (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who makes a sport out of marrying men and divorcing them, in order to cash in on large divorce settlements. | Rating: 4/5 Intolerable Cruelty. Review: Let Him Go Is a Hammy Melodrama That’s Parched for Backstory. In that case, why does she want the Massey Pre-Nup? The Coens do an efficient job of stamping their signature grotesquerie on sumptuous Beverly Hills and Las Vegas settings and ladling on gallows humor and malice, sometimes with the verve of early Robert Zemeckis. Screwball comedy. |, October 13, 2009 She goes on the list with Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr. The Coen Brothers named O Brother Where Art Thou after a film title in Sullivan's Travels, but Intolerable Cruelty plays more like a Preston Sturges romantic film with quick pacing, plot twists and dialogue filled with double entendres (The Massey pre-nup cannot be penetrated). Speaking of Clooney, it is he and the stunning Catherine Zeta-Jones who really deliver, for although the leads' roles are written with their share of unlikable traits, their individual portrayers consistently endear with an effectively snaky charisma that is punctuated by some sympathetic layers, and bonded through a rocky chemistry which makes the leads' relationship something of a treat to watch as it twists and turns. Coming Soon. The Coens are no strangers to slow storytelling (*cough*"Blood*cough*Sim*cough*ple*cough*ton"*cough*), but their dry spells typically derive from a thoughtfulness that certainly doesn't have a place in this type of effort, so there's no excuse for occasions that, while far from tedious, drag their feet in scripting, and are made all the more distancing by quiet atmospheric cold spells. , poor saps, who has been briefly married to Marylin ( Zeta-Jones ) me try movies Worst. 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