Miles Massey (George Clooney) is Los Angeles's sharpest divorce lawyer, helping
hundreds of the very guilty get away with all their money intact. Hired by the
flagrantly culpable Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann, "Gilmore Girls") to help
judiciously screw his gold-digging wife, Marylin (recent Oscar-winner, Catherine
Zeta-Jones) out of millions, Miles finds himself oddly drawn into Marylin's
beauty and mystery. Once he realizes that he's head over heels in love with
Marylin, Miles goes to extremes to win her affection, leaving himself wide open
to her unscrupulous agenda, and not minding a bit.
The last time Joel and Ethan Coen got a bag full of money and lost control, the
result was the 1994 financial disaster, "The Hudsucker Proxy." Retreating back
into their creative cave, the Coen Brothers subsequently turned out tremendous
films like "Fargo," "O Brother Where Art Thou?," and arguably their best
concoction, "The Big Lebowski." These films were forged with a kind of integrity
that's generally lacking when big bucks are involved. "Intolerable Cruelty" (IMDb listing) is
the Coens' return to the theater of gigantic advertising campaigns, huge
awareness, and gleaming stars that outshine the sun. A throwback to the witty
screwball comedies of Preston Sturges, "Cruelty" plays lightning fast, with the
filmmakers rarely stopping to catch a breath. While "Cruelty" has the dexterity
of a classic romantic comedy, it's punctuated with the characteristically
oddball Coen moments that the crowds have come to expect. It's big, impeccably
light, and scored with pinpoint precision by regular Carter Burwell. So, why
didn't I laugh more than once?
The trouble when the Coens attempt to turn a fairly standard vehicle into a
weapon of their own design is that the two can rarely coexist in peace. I'm all
for the Coen kook, seen in most of their productions, delivering big laughs and
memorable moments. There is one to add here, involving a bumbling hit man who
mistakes his gun for his asthma medicine. Yet "Cruelty," for all the bells and
whistles the Coens place on it, never truly comes alive the way it could. The
Coen touches, such as Miles' decrepit senior partner who can barely breathe, or
Billy Bob Thornton's extended cameo as a flamboyant Texas oil baron, would work
better in a "Coen Brothers Film." In "Cruelty," all the little asides stick out
like sore thumbs, not even providing the laughs they are so desperate to get. A
Coen Brothers failure is still ten time better than most Hollywood successes,
but it's tough to get around the fact that, for as busy as the film gets,
nothing very notable occurs, and none of it manages to strangle the funny bone.
Heading back into Coen territory (after "O Brother") is George Clooney, proving
once again that if he bounces between working with Steven Soderbergh and the
Coens for the rest of his career, he will reach unattainable heights as an
actor. Filled with spunk, and with what can only be described as an
unlimited-tokens-at-Chuck-E-Cheese glint in his eye, Clooney owns "Cruelty" from
his very first frame. A crack comic actor, why is it that the Coens are the only
filmmakers to utilize Clooney's gifts? Clooney delivers palpable sexual heat
with co-star Zeta-Jones, but it's in the scenes where the actor slinks around
the frame or goes bug-eyed that truly give the audience a taste of the picture's
possibilities. Clooney is perfect, and the film should have taken his lead.
I've never been a huge groupie of the Coen Brothers, but one can plainly see
what pictures on their filmography have truly inspired them, and what pictures
they have tried to save with their style and wit. "Intolerable Cruelty" is very
sadly in the latter category.
Filmfodder Grade: C