Be Reel Quick…
We all know the accusations. Our favourite off-the-wall directors are charged as traitors against their unconventional origins, allying with traditional Tinseltown forces and assaulting the film-going public with the painful clichés of a romantic comedy. But can such fine, upstanding directors as the Coen brothers be guilty of such a heinous big screen blunder? After much deliberation, I don’t think so. Whilst its true that this is the first time the Coen brothers have cast such audience-attracting names as Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney, there seems to be good reason. Grab any random passer-by and they would have heard of the dishy E.R. doc or seen Zeta-Jones chirruping over her Oscar, but could you be assured that as many could name the directors of ‘The Big Lebowski’ with the same speed? This seems to be the brothers attempt to bring their work to a wider audience, and they do so without losing too much of their trademark humour in the process.
If my unashamed use of pun at the beginning didn’t give it away, Intolerable Cruelty centres around the legal profession, more specifically the world of money-loaded divorce settlements. Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a cold, seductive and brazen ‘black widow’ wife, taking any and every opportunity to fleece her unsuspecting husband(s) for every dollar they have. And they have a fair few. All seems to be going just peachy, until super-suave and successful lawyer Miles Massey (George Clooney) rudely interrupts her plans, causing both romantic and financial problems. I will admit, set down on the page, the plot does sound less than inspiring and the Coen-bashers’ comments could seem justified.
However, for me, Intolerable Cruelty does for romantic comedies what Scream did for teen slasher-movies. The romantic lines and gooey glances between Zeta-Jones and Clooney are self-consciously slushy so that they seem a parody of the genre itself. In this way, the eye-candy talent of the big name stars seems appropriately chosen. If it weren’t just a little too cruel to the bubbly, if a little airy, Welsh actress, it does seem amusing that Catherine Zeta-Jones should have sprung to mind for the role of a gold-digging wife hungry for the money of established millionaires….
The legal setting provides for a quick-paced ride and some sparkling dialogue exchanges. But it is on the quirky supporting characters that the Coen brothers’ seal of individuality has been well and truly stamped. A seemingly immortal defence lawyer who lives in a basement and is kept alive in a Mr. Burns-esque style with a cocktail of drips and drugs, a surprisingly impressive character part from Billy Bob-Thornton and a gangster that suffers from acute asthma and goes by the name ‘Wheezy Joe’ are the little gems of peculiarity that allow an outlet for the signature of the directors. There is an outstandingly directed sequence which leaves you in hysterics, feeling deliciously dazed. It is true that the style of this film is not quite as distinctive as previous Coen brothers’ films, but it seems only fair to allow these talented directors a chance to open up their work to a larger audience and their consciousness of the clichés of the genre means that it comes across as a tongue-in-cheek rom com rather than your average floppy-haired slop-fest. Their first failure? Not yet. These boys are on a roll.
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