Review of Intolerable Cruelty (2003) by Shawn E — 05 Feb 2010

By far the worst of the Coen Brothers movies. It's as superficial and shallow as 'The Hudsucker Proxy', but, while that movie had some pretty impressive production design and visuals, this movie has absolutely nothing.

Okay, maybe I'm just angry....George Clooney is charming as always, but he's given so little to do it's insulting. It almost feels like the Coen Brothers, in an attempt to show everyone why it's a bad idea for them to make mainstream films, invested no creative thought into a single moment of this film.

'Intolerable Cruelty' has not a single spontaneous moment in practically the whole movie...though the ending features the only worthwhile sequence in the movie (involving a big man with asthma).

Maybe this is a personal message on behalf of Joel and Ethan to regular moviegoing audiences to show exactly why the majority of mainstream romantic comedies are so lame? Maybe it's the fact that this film was the result of someone else's screenplay that they just did touch-ups to? I have no idea.

Whatever the reason may be, there's no way around the fact that this is just plain bad. I hereby dub this the WORST COEN BROTHERS FILM EVER!!