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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
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| Karina Montgomery |
 Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 10:49 pm |
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Intolerable Cruelty
Rental
Intolerable Cruelty lacks the sublime satire of the Hudsucker Proxy,
or the loving character sketches of Fargo, the shrewd retelling of O
Brother Where Art Thou, or even the wacky, semi-surreal comedy of
Raising Arizona. Cruelty is a bizarro "standard" romantic comedy
which was rendered bizarro by a hybridization of the Coen's deft
skill with making unlikeable people likeable, and the over
test-marketed standard of Imagine Entertainment. I think if it had
been made by anyone else, I would only have been a little frustrated.
But my standards have to be higher.
I love the Coen Brothers, and when they are left alone and allowed to
do what they do best, they rarely, if ever, disappoint. I have been
anticipating this release for some time, and I am very sorry to say
that this is one of those rare times. I rate this film Rental
because to see George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones snap crackle
and pop on screen is the main pleasure this film affords, and when it
is happening, it is divine. So I want you to see that!
However, the magic between them was so bogged down by story and
character issues I just wanted to cry. As did my companion. Clearly
this movie was tested to death, or at least, to the death of the
Coen's trademark magic. The film begins with the pleasant surprise
of Geoffrey Rush, driving home to a sideline plotline that should
have been snipped excet for its usefulness to establish Clooney as a
crack divorce attorney. The film middles with another
pleasantventure (and too little used) with Billy Bob Thornton, and
leaves that behind too quickly and without using it to the story's
advantage. Then the crackling grinds to an end and the crazy, cheesy
parts start cropping up more and more frequently. When I laughed, I
laughed a lot. When I swooned, I swooned but good. But the rest of
the time was spent wishing I could be laughing and swooning.
Carter Burwell and Roger Deakins, Coen vets, provide their usual
level of mastery and skill to the tale, and no actor can be faulted
for how much or how little he or she was afforded on screen. Clooney
and Zeta-Jones dive head first into their roles and play them so
fervently you almost are exhausted from the effort; but they are
given empty words to speak when they should be the most meaningful,
and over-ponderous claptrap right when we should be moving along.
Cap that with a "WTF" ending and you have one unhappy Coen lover in
the audience. I still love them, I love the actors, I love the idea,
even, but somewhere in partnering with all those extra screenwriters
and producers, they lost what makes them special.
--
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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to
forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can
check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the
Online Film Critics Society
http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock
Exchange Brokerage Resource
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X-RAMR-ID: 36020
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1206983
X-RT-TitleID: 1126178
X-RT-SourceID: 755
X-RT-AuthorID: 3661
X-RT-RatingText: 3/5 |
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