Film Reviews

Intolerable Cruelty

• Rating:
• Director: Joel Coen
• Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones
• Details: US / 100 mins / (12PG).

In a role that doesn't seem too much of a stretch for her, Catherine Zeta-Jones plays an incorrigible gold digger in the Coen brothers' latest comedy. Influenced by the classic screwball comedies of yesteryear, this is a glossy but intensely enjoyable romp which highlights once again what an underrated force George Clooney is, as he delivers his best comedic turn to date. Indeed, if he wasn't one already, his performance is so good that it is what is routinely referred to as a star making one. What makes Clooney such an attractive leading man (steady on ladies!) is that he's eager to poke fun at himself and his looks, and he gets plenty of bug-eyed opportunity in 'Intolerable Cruelty'.
He plays Miles, an infamous but highly skilled divorce lawyer who is completely smitten with himself. However, his veneer of self-obsession is cracked when he encounters the vampish Marylin (Zeta-Jones), who is divorcing her adulterous husband. Won over by her sheer canniness, Miles vows to make Marylin his, but that isn't quite as easy as it sounds, since the lady is very determined to have things her own way, and holds Miles somewhat responsible for losing her a very large sum of money.
Refreshingly amoral, 'Intolerable Cruelty' is a sharp sardonic farce which celebrates the worst aspects of human nature - greed especially - and delights in the sheer deviousness of its central characters. Equally refreshing is the Coens' refusal to make excuses for their intelligence, and their neat side-stepping of anything that could be confused with moralising. Sharper than a tack, 'Intolerable Cruelty' glistens with a barely there gold while never straying far from sight or mind. Marvellous.

Review by Garreth Murphy