As its name suggests, “Intolerable Cruelty” is populated with unsavory characters doing nasty things to each other in the remorseless pursuit of wealth and carnal pleasure. It’s a sordid tale of ruthless divorce attorneys, philandering fat cats and gold-digging vamps who lie and cheat and steal and, most of all, make us laugh. And laugh and laugh and laugh ‘til we cry. It’s Coen brothers comedy at its gut-busting, tear-duct-filling finest.
George Clooney evokes the comedic cool of Cary Grant as formidable L.A. divorce attorney Miles Massey, whose patented “Massey prenup” is legendary in its impenetrability. Despite enjoying fabulous success and the envy of his peers, Massey is disenchanted and looking for something — anything — to shake things up. Enter the devastatingly gorgeous Marylin Rexroth (the devastatingly gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones) the soon-to-be ex-wife of Miles’ client, developer Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann). Marylin, with the help of ace private eye Gus Petch (a hilarious Cedric the Entertainer), catches Rex with his pants down and is banking on a lucrative divorce settlement. But thanks to Miles’ considerable courtroom cunning, she winds up with nothing.
Undaunted, Marylin again marries money, and again divorces it. This time, tapping into the bottomless well of a dimwitted Texas oil tycoon (Billy Bob Thornton). Next up is Miles, who can’t help but fall head over heels in love with a beauty who is even more cold and calculating than he is. He forsakes his career and ties the knot with Marylin without the protection of his ironclad prenuptial agreement. Before long, the pair is squaring off in a riotous battle of the sexes. As is their wont, the Coen brothers imbue the quirky characters in “Intolerable Cruelty” with enough caustic traits to make them somewhat difficult to embrace. But the sleaze is car-toonish enough so as not to detract from the undeniably appealing chemistry between Clooney and Zeta-Jones. They attack these meaty roles like hungry pit bulls, no doubt certain that audiences will eat it up. And besides, they’re not in it to make us love them. They’re in it to make us laugh. And on that count, they’re guilty as charged. (Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and brief violence. Running time: 100 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 10, 2003. Read the original PDF.