Intolerable Cruelty
Submitted by ELLEN NGUYEN on Sat, 2005-01-01 08:00.
Barely out of the theaters, the latest Coen brothers romp hastily arrives on DVD. Filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen are reunited with George Clooney (O Brother Where Art Thou), who plays Miles Massey: a pompous, arrogant, and seemingly unbeatable divorce lawyer, the type people hate, and someone who'd make Cupid himself want to fire a fatal shot into. Massey finally meets his match in his nemesis/love interest, Marilyn (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is a gorgeous gold-digging con artist who marries rich men for the wrong reasons. Both have become bored in their respective lives and are naturally drawn to each other. The story is fairly unpredictable, well-written--not too far off from a good David Mamet (The Spanish Prisoner) mindfuck--and full of typically goofy and quirky Coen brothers characters who amazingly never cross the line into being completely slapstick. Clooney himself excels in this genre: he's seems to be at his best as the leading man in a comedic role. As enjoyable as Cruelty is, the film ultimately comes across as a sad, cynical statement on the atrophy and fragility of modern marriage, reducing the idea of divorce into a trite ritual. The bonus features border on the "pointless marketing scheme" category, with two short behind-the-scenes featurettes (one which unfortunately includes shots of super-producer Brian Grazer and his ridiculous hair-don't), an uninteresting quartet of outtakes, and a practically pointless DVD-ROM feature that involves watching the movie with the included InterActual software (which basically turns you into sort of a lab rat). Why even bother? But not even the lame suite of extras can't spoil another smart, fun, and hilarious and Coen brothers film.
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