365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 150 - Intolerable Cruelty

First of all I have to acknowledge that I am a huge fan of Joel and Ethan Coen. I find that their films are always engaging and contain some of the most unique characters in cinema. I also have to admit that even though I am a huge film buff I have two of their films on my must watch list. The first is Intolerable Cruelty which I missed in the theatres in 2003 and never got around to seeing until last night. The other more glaring omission is the fact that I have never viewed Raising Arizona. I have about 20 "important" films that I have missed watching over the years and Raising Arizona is one of them. I will be watching it very soon.

In the meantime I enjoyed Intolerable Cruelty for the wacky attempt at neo-screwball comedy, but realized while I was watching it that the film was not entirely successful and was one of the brothers lesser efforts. I am not sure if it was the pacing, mix of humor with violence or the melding of the different types of comedy, but the film did not completely work for me.

What did work was the chemistry between George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones. The movie is worth watching just two see the two of them. Clooney plays Miles Massey the best divorce lawyer in Beverly Hills and Jones is Marylin Rexroth, the wife of one of Miles clients, Rex Rexroth who is being sued for divorce. When Miles successfully defends Rex and leaves Marylin penniless she plots revenge.

The film is smart and witty and has the ability to make ridiculous people look really ridiculous, but somehow it also has a feeling of that Coen brothers irony that says "look how ridiculous all this is" and that detracts from the film. The film has some great supporting players, in particular, Paul Adelstein ad Miles assistant, Richard Jenkins as a divorce attorney out of his depth, and Geoffrey Rush as an enraged husband. Cedric the Entertainer is also featured, but it feels like he belongs in a different movie.

This is the first film the Coens made based on material from someone else. The original screenplay was by Robert Ramsey and Matt Stone.

Clooney also worked with the Coen Brothers in 2008's Burn After Reading a much better screwball comedy. His first film with them was O' Brother Where Art Thou in 2000.

The Coens will be back in theatres again this Christmas. They are working with Jeff Bridges again, this time on a new adaptation of the book True Grit

At the Movie House rating **1/2 stars