Miles Massey (George Clooney) is a divorce attorney whose clientele consists primarily of the rich and powerful in the Los Angeles area. He's well known for an "ironclad" prenuptial agreement named after him and also known for taking his clients' spouses to the cleaners. But when he works his magic against Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), he may have picked on the wrong person.

I didn't find Intolerable Cruelty very funny. I might have chuckled a couple times. The dialogue was mostly affected and pretentious to my ears. The story wasn't very interesting to me. I really couldn't get myself to care what happened to Miles or Marilyn. I've liked most of writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen's previous films, but Intolerable Cruelty seemed to me to have little of the inventiveness and cleverness of their past efforts. I have also liked most of the past films that George Clooney, Billy Bob Thornton and Geoffrey Rush have been in, but here they seemed to be turning in just okay performances for bad material. Heck, I even loved Clooney's turn at Batman (1997's Batman & Robin), Thornton's portrayal of a rocket scientist in Armageddon (1998), and Geoffrey Rush's eccentric millionaire in House on Haunted Hill (1999), but Intolerable Cruelty just didn't work for me.

Still, I can't say the film was a complete failure. I'm giving it a 6 out of 10, which is equivalent to a "D" in my way of looking at ratings. The performances might have been just okay, but they were okay, not awful. The Coens managed some interesting shots, such as Rush through the windshield of his car, where we mostly see a reflection of trees. That was unusual, and effectively conveyed the heat and brightness of a summer day the way a more traditional shot wouldn't have. The opening scene had promise to me. The Wheezy Joe subplot was fun. The slight suggestions of surrealism in Miles' boss were very enjoyable, although on the other hand, I found myself lamenting that surrealism wasn't the focus of the whole film.

Glancing at other reviews, obviously the film worked for some people. Maybe if you're more in the market for a realist drama cum light farce about divorce lawyers, you'd appreciate it more than I did. But for me, it has me rethinking my desire to collect all of the Coen brothers' films on DVD.

When I would heard about the film years ago,I for some reason kept confusing it for Burn After Reading (2008-also reviewed.) Recently starting to watch more credits from the Coen's,I was pleased to see this title appear on Netflix UK, leading to me discovering some cruel intentions.

View on the film:

Revealing that what would become the first title they would edit digitally had been in development for eight years, the screenplay by co-editors/ co-writers/(with Robert Ramsey/Matthew Stone and John Romano) co-directing auteurs Joel and Ethan Coen serve a modern tribute to the Screwball Comedy.

The writers throw zany hip gumball one-liners between slick lawyer Miles (played with a classic Hollywood shine by George Clooney) and merrily sarcastic multiple divorcee Marylin, (played with a wicked glee by Catherine Zeta-Jones,who wears Katharine Hepburn-style clothes) whose pile of ex-husbands include goofball Howard D. Doyle (played with a hilarious motormouth by Billy Bob Thornton.)

Reuniting with cinematographer Roger Deakins, the Coens frame Miles and Marylin's tug of war romance with a golden glow casting a elegant, refine atmosphere over Miles conflict of putting his divorce lawyer cynicism aside,to take a roll of the dice on either landing on a bubbly romance,or intolerable cruelty.

Okay, compared to the average film this certainly is NOT conventional. But compared to many of the wilder and weirder Coen Brothers films (such as THE HUDSUCKER PROXY or RAISING ARIZONA), this movie is more "normal" than most of their films. However, while having a fun but almost conventional plot is NOT a bad thing for lovers of the weird Coen touch because interspersed throughout the film are some of the oddest and funniest supporting characters that make it obvious to most in the audience that this is one of their films. In some ways, this is reminiscent (on a less subtle level) of Fellini--who is known for some of the weirdest and ugliest supporting characters in many of his films.

Cederic the Entertainer is one of these funny bit parts, as the low-class and dim private investigator he plays is a riot. Playing the exact opposite of his earlier character in another Coen Brothers film (THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE), the excessively talkative Billy Bob Thornton was quite funny and was a great inside joke for lovers of Coen films. Herb Meyerson plays an extremely creepy and moribund boss. I loved how suddenly near the end of the film this incredibly sick old goat suddenly comes to life--you just have to see it to understand what I mean. Plus, in an odd bit of going against type, Edward Herrmann plays a small but funny role as a kinky millionaire with a train fetish. Herrmann is probably best known as the narrator of many History Channel films and has had a habit of playing stuffy executives or millionaires--and he certainly is NOT stuffy here!

Now as for the plot, while slightly more conventional and a bit predictable, it still is very entertaining. I certainly wouldn't have thought that Catherine Zeta Jones and George Clooney would have been all that funny together, but it all worked thanks to excellent writing and direction. They make an excellent "anti-romantic" romantic comedy team.

Cute, funny and a good date film--watch it and have a good laugh.