Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Directed by Joel Coen
Written by Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, Joel Coen, & Ethan Coen

The Coen Brothers never make the same movie twice, and they manage to sustain the same relative quality from film to film no matter what genre they're skewering. Intolerable Cruelty takes on romantic comedy with their usual flair for screwball complications, baffling and hilariously uncomfortable situations, and one-of-a-kind characters … it's the anti-When Harry Met Sally. And yes, we need that.

George Clooney is Miles Massey, a superslick LA divorce lawyer known for his ruthless ability to screw spouses out of reasonable, or any, settlements. Miles is at the top of his game, but feels increasingly empty about the lack of real meaning in his life.

He can't put his finger on what's missing until he encounters Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the wife of a millionaire (Edward Herrman) who hires Miles to ensure she gets nothing in the divorce.

What's missing is passion, heart, and the word that divorce lawyers avoid: love. Of course, Miles falls hard for Marylin, who is intent on exacting revenge, and she plays him like a Micromoog.

The plot twists like something out of Shakespeare as the balance of power continually shifts; it's hard to peg anyone's genuine intent as the craziness piles up. When Miles delivers a heartfelt speech about love to a roomful of divorce lawyers, you know he's being set up for a seriously cruel downfall.

This element, as with all Coen Brothers offerings, is the film's central flaw. No heart. Their deep cynicism is hard to really connect with, though it's so easy to laugh with, I've simply stopped hoping for anything else from these guys.

Clooney and Zeta-Jones are perfect, exhibiting the best on-screen chemistry since William Powell and Myrna Loy. Billy Bob Thornton is astounding in a small role; I don't care much for that guy but he always proves his greatness.

Cedric the Entertainer is funny as a private investigator; Geoffrey Rush hams it up (this time in a good way) as a TV producer who loses everything after Massey represents his wife in their divorce. Everyone is clearly having a great time. And they've come up with one of their all-time classic characters in Wheezy Joe, an asthmatic thug who suffers a nearly piss-your-pants funny fate.

It's overlong, as Coen films sometimes are, but so packed with ridiculous dialogue and riotous situations that the tedious patches can be excused.

Cruelty is not the best of the Coen canon, of which there is no worst; rather, it's another fine entry into their ongoing parody of American film history. I can't wait until they get around to doing a faux-Scorcese film.

Review by Thomas Long-and-Strong