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Jeff reviews:

Intolerable Cruelty

Oct. 10, 2003
2003, 1 hr 40 min., Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and brief violence.�Dir: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Cast: George Clooney (Miles Massey), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Marylin Rexroth), Paul Adelstein (Wrigley), Geoffrey Rush (Donovan Donaly), Cedric the Entertainer (Gus Petch), Edward Herrmann (Rex Rexroth), Richard Jenkins (Freddy Bender), Billy Bob Thornton (Howard D. Doyle), Julia Duffy (Sarah Sorkin), Jonathan Hadary (Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy), Tom Aldredge (Herb Myerson), Irwin Keyes (Wheezy Joe).

Many of the reviews of Intolerable Cruelty have been lukewarm at best, but I have to passionately disagree. I think the elitist critics were expecting something else, a more offbeat and dark comedy they�re accustomed to getting from the Coen brothers� work.

Intolerable Cruelty is not dark, it�s not really that offbeat, but they done made a romantic comedy for the ages, with a few quirks that enhances the exceedingly fun movie teeming with style.

And really, that�s what you should be looking forward to in the first place, pulling for the flawed but impossibly attractive and charming Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney, because they�re the best looking people in it and thus belong together.

Love need cause us no fear, but it sure could cause us to end up in the Poor House. Love�s a bitch, or you shouldn�t love a bitch. Either way, using Elvis� �Suspicious Minds� over the opening credits is truly fitting.

Clooney is a smarmy divorce lawyer (but I repeat myself) who spends all of his free time staring into mirrors, spoons, etc., to check his overly white teeth.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is on a Man Safari - hunting for a rich man to divorce and get his money, thinking this will bring her independence. As long as she lets me stare at her brown eyes for eternity, I would give her all of my money, too.

Of course, both Clooney and Zeta-Jones are bored and unfulfilled despite all their riches. Really, did I even need to say that? Is anyone with wealth on screen ever happy and skipping through 55-room mansions while whistling on their way to their personal bowling alley? No, they are all alone, spoiled yet jaded and melancholic.

Despite this discontent, Clooney and Zeta-Jones are full of personality, energy and so much chemistry any Bunsen burners around them explode. There�s real energy in their banter, and frankly, they�re gellin� like Magellan.

The pedigree of entertaining actors continues in support, such as Geoffrey Rush, who right off the bat discovers that women won�t be faithful just because you�re rich and drive a Jag. What?! That�s not true! I�ve been hornswaggled!

Enter Cedric the Entertainer (does his kid go by Cedric Jr. the Entertainer? The dog, Spot the Entertainer?), a private detective who doesn't exactly use clever tactics to find cheaters, busting in with a video camera and light shining on any infidelity.

Billy Bob Thornton shows up midway as a twangy Texas oil tycoon being duped by Zeta-Jones, and you believe it could happen, since this is a guy suckered into marriage by Angelina Jolie. (Some would say he suckered the sex-kitten, but I think she wooed him to gain credibility for her increasing eccentricity, which goes far beyond having a vile of Billy Bob�s blood around her neck, and hers around his.)

Of course, need I even say that in the end, love is good? Everyone�s exposed and happier for it, and the clever dialogue through wordplay, coming from people we�re genuinely keen on, makes Intolerable Cruelty altogether tolerable and anything but cruel.

Love (me). Honor (my recommendation). Obey (see this movie).

The verdict:

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