Intolerable Cruelty *** (2003, George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones) – Classic Movie Review 1239

Gorgeous George Clooney is the making of the Coen Brothers’ entertaining 2003 old-style Hollywood romantic comedy, but with a deliciously dark, cynical edge. The Coen Brothers dark and cynical? That’s a weird one!

Clooney plays – oh so suavely – a slimy LA divorce lawyer called Miles Massey who vanquishes all opponents. Enter Catherine Zeta-Jones, a cunning gold-digger named Marilyn Rexoth who’s after a fortune to divorce Clooney’s client, Edward Herrmann.

As Zeta-Jones has never looked lovelier, it’s not surprising that Clooney falls for her, yet he still stitches her up in court with a surprise witness. The game of revenge is on as Zeta-Jones marries oil tycoon Billy Bob Thornton, who gets Clooney to draw up a pre-nup pact.

Though the story and screenplay by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone are a tad predictable and patchy, this smart and sophisticated Coen Brothers movie is still a clever entertainment chock-full of amusing situations, funny performances and witty lines.

Unusually, Joel and Ethan Coen are not working from their own original script but one they are credited as reworking, which they did back in the mid 1990s when Ron Howard and then Jonathan Demme were due to direct. Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer and Paul Adelstein also star. It’s scored by Carter Burwell, in his tenth collaboration with the Coen Brothers.

http://derekwinnert.com/o-brother-where-art-thou-classic-film-review-473/

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1239

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