There are plenty of reasons Coen brothers fans should feel
nervous with the release of “Intolerable Cruelty.” For
one, it was produced not just by independent-minded Ethan Coen, but
also by studio-man Brian Grazer. Secondly, it’s not the Coen
brothers’ story, even if they did help rewrite the script.
Also, have you seen the posters for this movie? Does this look like
a Coen brothers film to you?
Fear not; it is.
From the opening shot of Donovan Donaly (Geoffrey Rush) driving
his blue convertible through an up-scale L.A. neighborhood while
singing along to “The Boxer,” the Coen brothers’
magic ability to find subtle humor in eccentricity shines through.
This clearly isn’t the same Los Angeles that The Dude lives
in, but it’s just as deserving of a discerning eye.
At its heart, “Intolerable Cruelty” is an extremely
pessimistic movie: men are womanizing adulterers and women are
fashion-loving moneygrubbers. The plot centers on super divorce
attorney Miles Massey (George Clooney) and his extremely wealthy
clients as they marry, divorce and marry again if they don’t
like their settlement deals. Still, the characters’ openness
and ease in admitting their schemes somehow makes them likable. We
only wish the logic behind our relationships could be so easily
explained.
But there’s a problem with predictable, cartoon-like
characters, as witty as they may be. They’re not that
interesting. Presumably, that’s where Massey comes in, one of
only two characters to show any emotional change by the end of the
film (The other is Massey’s love interest, Marylin Rexroth,
played with adequate sexiness by Catherine Zeta-Jones.).
The first shot of Massey is actually of his teeth as a dentist
whitens them. He attends to them throughout the film in the same
way Ulysses Everett McGill (also played by Clooney) tends to his
hair in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” But by the time
the film ends, he’s kissed Rexroth and become a new man.
Somewhere in the middle his attention shifts from his teeth to his
heart.
The movie is predictable in the way most Hollywood movies are.
Perhaps it’s the effect of Grazer’s production style.
Perhaps it’s some sort of social comment the Coen Brothers
are trying to make about that production style and their
distinctively Hollywood cast (staple Coen brothers actors like
Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy or Frances McDormand are nowhere to
be found). Perhaps it’s a derivative of a story developed
before the Coen brothers were involved in the project.
Fortunately, what seems less likely is the possibility that the
Coen brothers have lost some of their touch. While not brilliant by
any stretch of the imagination, if “Intolerable
Cruelty” comes to be known as the Coen Brothers’
“Hollywood” movie, Joel and Ethan Coen are still
deserving of one of Massey’s most memorable lines in the
film: “You fascinate me.”