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Intolerable Cruelty (Widescreen Edition)

Intolerable Cruelty (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: i really wanna see this
Review: I dont kno if its good because its not out yet but it sounds AWESOME!Also people who went to the test screening said it was good too! I am a big fan of Catherine Zeta Jones and George Clooney.So I can hardly wait and I dont see how this could turn out to be a bad movie!

SYNOPSIS
Intolerable Cruelty is the story of a fabulously successful Los Angeles divorce attorney, Miles Massey (George Clooney). Sated on success, he is seeking new challenges when he meets Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a hard-headed woman who is always marrying for money. When Miles takes pretty much everything when Marilyn gets a divorce she swears to marry him and then leave him miserable, divorce him and take everything. (Thats why this movies saying thing is "ngage The Enemy") Anyways Marilyn soon finds herself in love with Miles.....but i dont know anymore because, I havent seen it yet. But it looks awesome

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst movie ever!
Review: I rented this movie and it was the biggest piece of dogcrap I've seen since.. uhhh Scooby Doo? The annoying snotty character of Catherine Zeta-Jones is so annoying and after reading a couple of magazine interviews about her you start to realize that she didn't even have to act in this. She IS her character! The whole plot is completely clueless, shallow, insipid, and pathetic to even comment on. Don't waste your money on this junk!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: clooney + coens = ???
Review: as long as you realize this is a screwball comedy, it's not SO bad. there are some very funny moments, courtesy of clooney. but there are also many dead spots. and some pretty bad dialogue - ie, could've been written and directed better. an interesting effort from the coens, easily their least idosyncratic film.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Is Diner Food Really That Bad?
Review: Miles Massey (George Clooney) is a ruthless divorce lawyer and Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta Jones) is an equally ruthless gold-digging wife in this Coen Brothers take on the screwball comedy genre. The film takes place in a slick, shiny and heartless Los Angeles-it's a place with no sympathy for losers. In the old thirties' comedies, there was always an element of humorous class confrontation (and sympathy for losers) that gave the films an edge-there's not enough of it here. If we knew a little bit why Miles and Marilyn were so driven (Miles seems to have a father problem, but we never really learn anything about Marilyn) it could put their behavior into perspective.

The inclusion of an African-American detective is interesting-but he's of so little value to Miles that Miles meets him for lunch in a dingy diner instead of one of the glossier restaurants we see in the film. In the screwball genre, this should be the scene where we see the better, decent side of Miles; we should see that he's a man of the people. But in this film the diner, usually a place of populist wisdom, (and a handy cinematic counterpoint to the empty values of the wealthy characters), is dismissed and ridiculed. It's too bad, because the dowdy patrons of the diner are also surrogates for the ordinary people in the audience. If Miles had met the detective in an upscale restaurant (and taken Marilyn to the diner), that would have told us something about his inborn decency despite his privileged background-then we would have really been on his side. And if we'd been given an inkling of why Marilyn is so money-hungry, we might have more sympathy for her. This film lacks the underlying empathy for ordinary people that the great comedies had beneath their slick facades. This empathy is in the other Coen Brothers films, so it's disappointing not to see it here.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable movie, but BOYCOTT THE DVD!
Review: Even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Coen brothers fan, I put off watching this because of bad reviews. I'm telling you right now that this movie has all of the off-the-wall humor I've come to love, with a thoroughly ironic and unbelievable romance parody thrown in. George Clooney is OK, but his tooth whitening gag isn't nearly as funny as "Dapper Dan". Cedric the Entertainer and Billy Bob Thornton steal every scene they appear in, and deservedly so.

As much as I enjoy the movie, however (and I took the precaution of renting it first), I WILL NOT BUY IT!!!!

DO NOT BUY THIS, OR ANY OTHER >>UNIVERSAL<< DVD until they cease the practise of inserting previews that CANNOT BE AVOIDED using the "next" or "menu" buttons. They casually "suggest" fast-forwarding through it. Disney pulled this stunt with their first "Mary Poppins" release and I still don't forgive them for it. I REFUSE TO PURCHASE ANOTHER DVD THAT TRIES TO GET AWAY WITH THIS. This goes for "Shrek 2" and any other UNIVERSAL production. I could say more, but I've said all I need to say.


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Enjoyable,as long as you don't expect too much from it!
Review: Joel and Ethan Coen may not be cinematic messiahs, but they sure can be very naughty boys! Movieland's bad lads have largely ignored the Hollywood monster since their 1984 debut, Blood Simple, but this collaboration with Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer represent them looking fulsomely into the mouth of the beast. Their movies have spanned every genre, from farce to film noire, wrestling any number of sacred cows to the ground on their travels. Intolerable Cruelty is just another experiment - this time into the world of mainstream movies and the theme of love and divorce in our times.

Miles Massey (George Clooney) is a slick, successful divorce lawyer to the rich and faithless. In between dental appointments to maintain his pearly bite, he manipulates the legal process to assist his philandering clients in wriggling out of their fiscal responsibilities - for a handsome fee of course. His latest client is the outrageously wealthy Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) whose fetish for choo-choo trains extends rather further than just watching toys go 'round a little track. His wife Marylin (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has hired the hyperactive filming detective, Gus (Cedric the Entertainer) to catch his fleshy high jinks, and now, armed with the evidence, she plans to "nail his ass" (as Gus so flamboyantly describes it.) Her plan is elegantly simple - to sue Rex, play the damning tape as evidence in court, collect a phenomenal alimony, then quietly enjoy her luxurious independence. There's just one problem....Massey.

Now, we know Massey must be a professional, because in spite of his obvious ardent attraction to the imminently ex Mrs Rexroth, he still manages a full scale victory for his locophilic client. With her original plans in tatters, poor Marylin has to lure another poor mogul into her web. Enter magnate Howard D. Doyle (Billy Bob Thornton). Having hoped that divorce proceedings would have cleared a path for his own intentions, Massey implores Marylin to enlist him as her attorney. She instead favours her previous lawyer (Six Feet Under's Richard Jenkins), although she does nothing to discourage Massey's romantic overtures.

The paths of our two protagonists continue to cross and weave, leading inevitably to their ultimate entanglement. But, of course, nothing is as it seems, and their hidden agendas and duplicitous tactics threaten disaster for all concerned.

So, does it work? Well, kind of - it rather depends on your expectation of a Coen film. Clooney virtually modernises his role of Everett in O Brother, Where Art Thou, with his foppish ways and glib verbosity. It appears he relishes the opportunity to display his range of physical comedy, his self-deprecating manner just barely keeping his performance from toppling completely into slapstick. As a duo, he and Zeta-Jones work very well together - their comic rhythms work in excellent syncopation, and their wit and intelligence match and complement each other. Zeta-Jones' portrayal of Marylin is well-pitched and honed. Her performance relies on more than a "va-va-voom" factor - it demonstrates a knowing intelligence and an almost feline hint of danger that keeps her multidimensional and interesting. The rapport between these two leads results in the delivery of some deliciously wicked dialogue, and there is more than one crackle of electricity between the pair.

The storyline itself is a little variable, oscillating from standard commercial plotlines to sparks of Coenesque mayhem. These two opposing elements have a tendency to cancel each other out somewhat, which will probably leave those who loved such films as Down With Love, or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days feeling rather disenfranchised, and Coen devotees feeling as if they've just been dipped in sugar and thrown to the thespians.

And therein lies the major challenge with this film. It's liable to leave a commercial audience a little unsettled, and a Coen admirer a little unsatisfied. Perhaps we could describe it as a "Coen film with trainer wheels" - not the full flight package, but enough to get you started.

The production levels are very high - everything is very glossy and glorious, and the support actors are all consummately wonderful. It's actually really rather a hoot, as long as you don't expect too much.


Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Well-Suited with Wit
Review: I didn't think I would enjoy this film as much as I did. The trailers did not portray the film in the best light possible, and it became a movie on my dvd list. However, when I did view the film on dvd, it became one of my must-see movies if you are a George Clooney or Catherine Zeta-Jones fan. There are enough one-liners in this movie delivered with wit and levity that you are reminded of the smart romantic comedies of the 1940s. Clooney is perfect as a sleazy divorce lawyer who falls for the maneater Catherine Zeta-Jones. Zeta-Jones is at her element as a glamorous but crafty woman who married for fortune. With a colorful supporting cast, Intolerable Cruelty is worth seeing.

Putting the Best Word Forward.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How did this dreck EVER ger released?
Review: Next time hire a writer. Or someone who's able to gauge when a movie is so badly botched, that it should never see the inside of a public theatre. The California law was wrong--the technical aspects of the plot had as many holes; and sounded as phony, as hollow to the ear, as the storyline.

Reviewers before me have parsed this failure sufficiently; I'll simply suggest that if you're looking for a black comedy about divorce, try "War of the Roses."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Two Different Movies
Review: 'Intolerable Cruelty' tells the story of a divorce attorney that has made a living protecting the livelihood of men that are being sued for divorce by their former spouses. Miles Massey, played by George Clooney, however, is beginning to lose his taste for the work. It all comes to a head when he finds himself falling for the former wife, Marilyn Rexroth (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) of his most recent client.

Marilyn has a dark secret of her own. She and several friends have conceived plots to marry rich men, catch them in the act of cheating, and then to divorce them, taking with them half of their former husbands estates. Like Massey, Ms. Rexroth finds herself in a bit of a dilemna, by achieving her goals she ends up being incredibly lonely.

'Intolerable Cruelty' almost seems like a car made from spare parts of other movies. The first third and last third of the movie form a chasis that incases a middle third that seems to be an engine not quite powerful enough to make the car go. I thoroughly enjoyed Massey's cynicism towards divorce and the legal profession that come in the early parts of the movie, and the last third has some fun plot twists. However, the middle third of the movie is just bizarre. Many fans of the Coen brothers will not find this unusual, and will probably love it, but it just seemed to make the movie incoherent to me.

Another element of the movie that just makes it surreal is the character of the senior partner. Although the character's name escapes me, you'll know him when you see him. He is a little withered old man kept alive by bottles of liquids that drain into his body. He seems to reside in his office and never leaves. Everytime you see him, he is spouting off Massey's accomplishments which range from hundreds of summary judgments to the impregnable Massey Pre-nup (which is a central plot element). This character is precisely what Massey fears becoming.

The movie does have a good cast. Clooney is a Coen regular now, and was perfect for the part of Massey. He delivered his scathing lines about the legal profession with the perfect amount of cynicism, sarcasm, and loathing, and his speech about keeping the flame of live alive when clients are seeking divorces at the NOMAN (a group of divorce attorneys) was heart felt. However, his character loses it in the middle, and his performance suffers a bit. Zeta-Jones was admirable as the calculating Ms. Rexroth and very consistent. I elso enjoyed Billy Bob Thornton's character, which was kind of unique for me.

Overall, the movie probably deserves about 3.5 stars, but its not quite worthy of four. Coen brothers fans should like it well enough, but I doubt it'll be their favorite Coen brothers movie. If you can't stand the Coen brothers, then you might as well stay away from this. Its worth a rental at least. Attornies might get a chuckle out of Massey's depiction of the profession.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Acceptable Cruelty
Review: INTOLERABLE CRUELTY is not the greatest of the Coen Bros. The premise and plot are slightly predictable and not very original. The subject of divorce has been beaten to death and not a very funny subject matter when one really thinks about it. The fact that the film is about rich people going through a divorce is even more suspect. However, the performances and screwball-type comedy/script saves the film from sinking. George Clooney is especially good in his comedic performance as the Divorce Lawyer, Miles Massey. Clooney's deliberate feat of overacting layered with double takes and eye-popping facial expressions are pretty funny as it gives a sharp contrast to his smooth and handsome exterior. Catherine Zeta Jones as Marylin Rexroth is cool, unaffecting and just an eyeful to look at. Both characters play a cat-and-mouse game of love, swindling, and deceit. The support cast is equally hilarious to keep it interesting with Geoffrey Rush as Donovan Donnell and Cedric the Entertainer as Gus Petch. One outstanding and hilarious character is Freddy Bender played by Richard Jenkins. He plays Massey's/Clooney co-lawyer at the firm Massey works at. He matches Clooney with the facial expressions except he cries a lot more than Clooney's character. Had the film been a major-major hit, the continuous line of leaving oneself "exposed" might have been added to the American lexicon of catch-phrases. Overall, a decent screwball comedy that is helped by a funny script,a great support cast, a funny and hilarious performance by George Clooney, and eye-candy in the form of Catherine-Zeta Jones.


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