Intolerable Cruelty, the Coen brothers vehicle starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, marked its 20th anniversary in October.

My apologies for getting to this anniversary review so late. My schedule was initially hectic because of the holidays and then October 7 happened. Better late than never as they say.

The gist of the film is that divorce attorney Miles Massey (George Clooney) and gold digger Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) fall for each other. Ironically, Miles had represented one of Marilyn’s ex-husbands, Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) during the divorce trial. Miles just happened to be in Las Vegas to deliver the keynote address at N.O.M.A.N. (National Organization of Matrimonial Attorneys, Nationwide). The two do more than just get to know each other as they impulsively get married. Miles had fallen head over heels but Marilyn is up to her same old shit, only she ripped up the Massey pre-nup and leaves Miles completely exposes.

At  Herb Myerson’s (Tom Aldredge) suggestion, Miles ends up hiring a hitman to kill Marilyn. In classic comedic fashion, Miles learns that Rex died without changing his will so Marilyn will get all the money. It also means she is richer than Miles and he’s off the hook for assets in the divorce settlement. But still, Miles has to stop the hitman from doing his job. A call to abort ends up going to voicemail. In the end, the hitman accidentally kills himself. Cut to the settlement proceedings, which are ultimately no longer necessary with Miles and Marilyn declaring their love for each other again.

It’s weird seeing the Imagine Entertainment title card prior to a Coen brothers film but sure enough, there’s a universe where this is a Ron Howard vehicle instead. The Coen brothers took over their project after becoming writers-for-hire, injected some of their signature quirks and made the film their own. It’s just mainstream enough to be a studio film while still being quirky enough to call itself a Coen brothers movie.

While a number of Coen films contain screwball comedy elements, it’s fair to say that Intolerable Cruelty may just be the film that comes the closest to the classic 1930s and 1940s screwball comedies. This doesn’t even get into the fact that George Clooney’s name is one that comes up as a modern-day equivalent to Cary Grant. But anyway, the film contains many elements:

• Rapid-fire dialogue
• A classic battle-of-the-sexes between Miles, and Marilyn
• Exaggerated characters
• Mistaken identities and misunderstandings
• Satire of social classes through the extremes at which people will for money in high-profile divorces
• A high-stakes situation with a humorous resolution
• A clever plot twist, which comes by a way of learning that REDACTED is not who they thought

George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones manage to elevate the Coens’ underrated Intolerable Cruelty through their performances and chemistry.

DIRECTOR: Joel Coen
SCREENWRITERS: Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
CAST: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Herrmann, Paul Adelstein, Richard Jenkins, and Billy Bob Thornton

Universal Pictures released Intolerable Cruelty in theaters on October 10, 2003. Grade: 3.5/5

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