Intolerable Cruelty

While this is the weakest film the Coen brothers (Fargo, Raising Arizona) have ever made, it’s still an OK movie. George Clooney plays a famous divorce attorney who falls in love with the woman he just screwed out of her husband’s fortune. The woman (Catherine Zeta-Jones) then sets out for revenge, even though she has become smitten with the attorney who ruined her life. Old themes, old jokes and stale scenarios hamper this film, the Coen’s latest attempt at big studio success. Divorce and Hollywood greed are old-hat, and I wish that the Coens had picked a subject more suitable to their offbeat vision. Clooney and Zeta-Jones are terrific, and they keep things moving forward, even when the jokes feel 50 years old. There are some true Coen moments to be had, including an unfortunate mishap with a prescription inhaler.