MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Intolerable Cruelty’ proves to be one to love
Grade: A-
There is a moment in “Intolerable Cruelty” that features a priest in a kilt playing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on the bagpipes. It could have turned up in another film, but it would have been handled differently. It would have been made so obvious that you would have felt beat over the head with the joke. But in “Intolerable Cruelty,” it’s so subtle you have to be paying attention to catch it.
That is just one of many reasons the Coen brothers are ingenious comics.
When you rate a movie that was made by Joel and Ethan Coen, you can only compare it to the other movies they’ve done; they stand in a world of their own. There’s no reason to try to equate it with today’s standard comic fare, such as “Dickie Roberts” or “Dumb and Dumberer.” To do so would insult the Coens. To evaluate “Intolerable Cruelty,” you have to look at “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Raising Arizona.”
“Intolerable Cruelty” stands up just fine.
“Cruelty” tells the story of a divorce lawyer (George Clooney) and the gold-digging wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of one of his clients. Through a series of husbands and legal actions, these two piece together a relationship of their own.
But what could have been a predictable romantic comedy is saved by the unpredictable plotting and writing of the Coens. You’re never quite sure where the movie is going to wind up until the very end.
Over the years, the Coens have made their mark by taking backward societies and having their characters quote poetry and intellectual philosophy, whether with Arizona trailer park residents, northern Minnesota small town-ites or southern rednecks.
This time around they may have made their greatest stretch of all, lending the philosophy and poetry to the vile tongues of gold-diggers and lawyers.
As far as I’m concerned, Clooney never needs to bother with the standard dashing lead role again. He’s just too funny to be wasted in roles that center on looks alone. He was a revelation in “O Brother Where Art Thou,” and though he wore lots of cool suits in “Ocean’s Eleven,” he makes a more memorable mark with his oddball humor here.
Zeta-Jones holds up her end, though she pales next to Clooney and nearly vanishes in the shadow of one of her husbands, played in brilliant cameo fashion by Billy Bob Thornton.
In order to bring across a message of loyalty and commitment, the film shows you the opposite early on through the actions of some of its ill-fated characters.
But if you can get through some sketchy dialogue, you will find a movie that tells a great moral in a totally unique way.
Josh Terry is a graduate student in the American studies program. Comments can be sent to jterry@english.usu.edu.