Rating: 
Summary: Coen Brothers Romantic Comedy
Review: Can you deal with the Coen Brothers hitting the mainstream? If yes, you will probably like this movie. If not, you may be a bit dissapointed. This isn't my favorite Coen brothers movie, but it is worth seeing. It has a lot of the trademark Coen oddities in characters, dialogue, wit, and dark, biting humor, but it moves into a realm left relatively untouched by the Coen's by introducing more elements of the traditional romantic comedy than seen in their previous works. Not to mention the casting of high profile stars (though I seem to remember a film of theirs starring Holly Hunter and Nicholas Cage...hmmm) and some transparency in plotline. That being said...I liked the film. It was one that I had no expectations of and found myself having fun watching it. If you want a straight up Coen Brothers original this won't be the movie for you. If you want a romantic comedy that has obviously been crafted by the masters and are willing to let some things go with regards to style points...you'll really enjoy this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: The movie has a very simple story, there was nothing exciting to it. I was very disappointment at it, I love George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones. But this is the worse movie that I have seen. I thought they could have done better. As you sat there, you would keep thinking when will this end ? Is there point to this ? This movie is for people probably in their early twenties. But if you are in the 30's and up , you will hate it.
Rating: 
Summary: Funniest movie I've seen in a long time
Review: I started this movie expecting to dislike it, but ended up rewinding scenes several times because I was laughing so hard I missed stuff. With classic double takes, poetry, and a surprising twist I didn't see coming, I thought it was well done.
Rating:
Summary: Sparkling rom-com with aristocratic Hollywood lineage
Review: The Coen brothers prove they can turn in a crowd-pleasing genre movie that's not a film noir (though it gently hints and pushes just enough in those - and many other - directions to remind you how much darker they could have twisted given another mood). Still retaining enough trademark wicked humour at the expense of its unknowing characters (specifically the marital losers played by Ed Begley Jr, Geoffrey Rush and a very game Billy Bob Thornton) to keep you reminded of their sibling brand, the flm nevertheless also proves thoroughly irresistable by most (low) mainstream expeectations. As rom-coms go, this is deliberately Cary Grant territory, with the Coens deliberately ignoring the Nora Ephron and Richard Curtis sensibilities that have predominantly twin-streamed through romantic comedies since When Harry Met Sally and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Rather, whilst directly enticing this mainstream used to the tiring Ephron menu, the always appealing Curtis fare and the increasingly less sharp Woody Allen outputs, the Coens bravely dare to offer us a taste of something a little rarer, a little more exotic and a little more mischievous - a high-end sophisticated rom-com driven alernatively by challenging combinations of high and low wit, sparkling dialogue and outright venom. The result is an aristocratic Hollywood concoction, with Clooney particularly on top form - once again proving his particular brand of guy charisma irresistably infectious. Intolerable Cruelty is to the mostly forgotten Golden Age of Hollywood rom-coms what Kill Bill is to the action movies of the 70s - stirring happy hints and reminders less of specific movies you can name than broad cinematic moods and pleasures you once treasured. An all-round class act - and spritely antidote to the dour, sluggish Man Who Wasn' t There.
Rating: 
Summary: Intolerable Cruelty is inflicted on the viewer
Review: What a disappointment from the Cohen Brothers! Granted, I was not expecting another "Fargo" or "Big Lebowski". Even lesser Cohen Brothers's movies ("Miller's Crossing", for example) still have something to recommend them, and are still usually worth seeing at least once. This movie,however,is not.
George Clooney is a slicker-than-snot divorce attorney. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a cheated-on wife who tries to take her
wealthy husband (Edward Herrmann) to the cleaners. Thanks to Clooney, she loses. But, this being a romantic comedy, Clooney falls for her while she desires revenge.
You couldn't ask for better leads than Clooney and Zeta-Jones. But the boneheaded script does not work. The two lead characters spend most of the film trying to out-con each other. Most of the jokes seem to be about torn-up prenups. We don't care if the two leads end up together, because all they do is try to outwit each other, with not very funny results.
The cast makes it bearable, but even Clooney is reduced to "screaming in panic" scenes by the film's end.
The movie is made uneven by adding in quirky supporting characters, but the actors involved (Billy Bob Thornton, Cedric the Entertainer, Geoffrey Rush, even Julia Duffy) all go to waste in underwritten roles. Perhaps next time, the Cohens should not team on the script with outside writers.
Rating: 
Summary: Tolerable Comedy
Review: This is not one of the Coen Brothers' stronger efforts, but it's still watchable. The storyline is more predictable than in most of their movies, although there are a few twists along the way. Only two scenes - the courtroom sequence and the showdown with Wheezy Joe - reach the inspired level of warped humor that is the Coens' hallmark. And Miles' speech to the NOMAN convention is a complete waste of time. The cast members all do a decent job. Clooney is charming; Zeta-Jones is gorgeous; Herrmann, Rush, Cedric and Thornton all come through with workmanlike performances. But for the most part, there's little "zing" and you don't really care much about the outcome. I went back and forth between three stars and four on this. I really wish Amazon allowed half-star ratings, so I could give it 3.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth watching!
Review: Good comedy plot and ok acting by Clooney and Zeta-Jones.
Rating:
Summary: Great supporting cast makes 'Cruelty' shine
Review: The zany relationship between George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Coen Brothers' 'Intolerable Cruelty' never really sparks, and that's a big flaw in a film that is meant to revive the Cary Grant-like screwball romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s. That's not saying that 'Cruelty' isn't a guilty pleasure. Clooney shows great comedic chops here: Grant-like double takes in court; a "Who's On First"-like routine with sidekick Wrigley (Paul Adelstein). Asked by their client if they've "ever sat before the judge before," the two respond "No, we sit after the judge." This routine goes on for a minute or two, the poker-faced duo patiently explaining to a befuddled client the order of sitting. Very funny stuff. As for Catherine Zeta-Jones, she looks incredible here, but she's not really given a lot of dimension by the script. I feel like she maximized what she was given to work with. It's the top-notch supporting cast that really makes 'Cruelty' work. Most notably: a. The before mentioned Paul Adelstein as Miles Massey aide-de-camp Wrigley. b. Edward Herrmann as Zeta-Jones' soon-to-be-ex-husband Rex Rexroth - this is a role that really turns Herrmann's stuffy FDR-like image on his head. He's excellent here as a flummoxed ex. c. Cedric the Entertainer as detective/videographer Gus Petch - his catchphrase will have you laughing as will his little piece on the importance of staying in shape. d. Geoffrey Rush does an extended cameo (a Coen brothers staple) at the beginning as a successful TV producer...a nice little appearance at the end teams him up unexpectedly with Cedric's Petch.
e. Richard Jenkins - supporting player extraordinaire (check him out in 'Flirting With Disaster') excels as Massey's courtroom adversary Freddy Bender. f. Billy Bob Thornton is flat-out great as Zeta-Jones 'husband' #2 Howard Doyle. I don't know what it is about Billy Bob - the smaller the role, the better he is. [Check out his mesmerizing turn in "Love Actually."] Upon meeting Clooney, he goes into this little bit (I can't recall how he ended up here, which is part of the fun) about how he was an Aggie, and he used to "play a little for A&M" and he was successful because he could "squirt through the line." I don't know if he ad-libbed that stuff, if the Coen brothers wrote it or what, but it's brilliantly delivered. It's completely apropos of nothing at the time, which - you realize later - is exactly the point. Here's to more Billy Bob.
Rating:
Summary: a BOMB!
Review: I am an enthusiastic Coen brothers fan, but couldn't get through this. Has to be their worst film yet!
Rating:
Summary: Coen brothers wit in a new wrapper
Review: I liked this movie a lot. It had the twists and turns you would expect from Ethan and Joel, but in a romantic comedy that bashes on lawyers (how good can it get?)
This is George Clooney's second go around with the brothers Coen, and it is just as good as O Brother Where Art Thou (that's saying something) Clooney portrays a greedy, rich, braggadocio lawyer, who's specialty prenuptial has never been broken. His fancy is caught by Catherine Zeta Jones's character, a heartless gold digger, who in the end falls in love for real.
Also entwined in this flick are Cedric the Entertainer and Billy Bob Thornton, with pieces one can hardly call cameos. Expect surprises and delicious plot turns every minute, expect great acting from George Clooney, but most of all, don't expect that by doing a romantic comedy the Coen bro's have sold out. Enjoy.
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