Review of Intolerable Cruelty (2003) by María A — 04 Feb 2012

No, it's not a typical Coen brothers film, it doesn't need to be. It has their typical array of quirky, unique characters, well-done over the top moments, fascinating humour and captivating story lines, but I felt that the overall plot didn't hold together all that well. The film starts out strong with all the elements that we have grown to love from these two. Plus, the two main stars are both charismatic actors and Clooney especially is a joy to watch in his role. On the other hand, while Catherine Zeta-Jones is a definite eye candy, I didn't get any chemistry out of her as the romance developed. You could clearly see that Clooney's character was infatuated, but never hers. In some ways that actually fits the film, but near the end it starts to become somewhat distracting.

And speaking of distracting, there's a huge, glaringly obvious plot hole in this film concerning those all important prenups. It seems that they can be nullified way too easily for it to be in any way possible in real life. I get that the film couldn't go into too much detail concerning the nullification process, but... The way it's portrayed here is just ridiculous. I'm not familiar with the American laws, but it cannot be that easy. So yeah, my movie was kind of ruined, because of those prenups. I just couldn't suspense my disbelief.

Nevertheless, I could be wrong about that little detail. I thought I wasn't so most of my time during the second half of the film was spent wondering about that little detail, but if that detail in question doesn't bother you, then this is a fun film with great acting talent, lots of quiet and not so quiet humour, outrageous scenes and clever dialogue. The plot starts to become somewhat stale near the end and the ending... well, you either like those sorts of endings or you don't. In either case, it's not a bad film.