Intolerable Cruelty

2003

Action / Comedy / Crime / Romance

37
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 48% · 188 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 48% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 105252 105.3K

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Plot summary

A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.

Director

Ethan Coen Photo
Ethan Coen

Top cast

Billy Bob Thornton Photo
Billy Bob Thornton as Howard D. Doyle
Mary Pat Gleason Photo
Mary Pat Gleason as Nero's Waitress
Mary Gillis Photo
Mary Gillis as Court Reporter
George Clooney Photo
George Clooney as Miles
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
842.68 MB
1280*694
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 11
1.59 GB
1920*1040
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 26

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Rex_Stephens 7 / 10

Two Thumbs Up.

'Intolerable Cruelty' has panache. Clooney delivers an impressive performance, one of his best that I have seen him in. When a bad movie comes out, it's easy to eat it alive and point out every dumb thing about it. Since this movie had something going, it's hard to point out the good points and why I liked it. Let's just say that 'Intolerable Cruelty' has a story, one that holds up until the movie sells out near the very end. But the acting and the story for one thing, I give credit for, held up quite well.Miles Massey, successful divorce lawyer, meets his match (and maker), in Marilyn Rexroth a man-eater when, after her failure to win the ex-husband's fortune, goes for the Massey pre-nup in another marriage, to intrigue her opponent.Two thirds through the movie, everything holds up so nicely. There is wit, charisma, character on the part of Clooney and Mrs. Douglas. The story is perfect and anyone should easily pick up on. The movie is near-perfect ... until towards the end, where wit turns to cheese, charisma goes to blandness, and character goes way to the Hollywood sell-out. I hate movies that don't stay true to themselves, but I can't blame most of this movie or the Coens. It was probably in their best interest all along.
Reviewed by BrandtSponseller 6 / 10

Maybe I'm just not in the target audience for this one

Miles Massey (George Clooney) is a divorce attorney whose clientele consists primarily of the rich and powerful in the Los Angeles area. He's well known for an "ironclad" prenuptial agreement named after him and also known for taking his clients' spouses to the cleaners. But when he works his magic against Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), he may have picked on the wrong person.I didn't find Intolerable Cruelty very funny. I might have chuckled a couple times. The dialogue was mostly affected and pretentious to my ears. The story wasn't very interesting to me. I really couldn't get myself to care what happened to Miles or Marilyn. I've liked most of writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen's previous films, but Intolerable Cruelty seemed to me to have little of the inventiveness and cleverness of their past efforts. I have also liked most of the past films that George Clooney, Billy Bob Thornton and Geoffrey Rush have been in, but here they seemed to be turning in just okay performances for bad material. Heck, I even loved Clooney's turn at Batman (1997's Batman & Robin), Thornton's portrayal of a rocket scientist in Armageddon (1998), and Geoffrey Rush's eccentric millionaire in House on Haunted Hill (1999), but Intolerable Cruelty just didn't work for me.Still, I can't say the film was a complete failure. I'm giving it a 6 out of 10, which is equivalent to a "D" in my way of looking at ratings. The performances might have been just okay, but they were okay, not awful. The Coens managed some interesting shots, such as Rush through the windshield of his car, where we mostly see a reflection of trees. That was unusual, and effectively conveyed the heat and brightness of a summer day the way a more traditional shot wouldn't have. The opening scene had promise to me. The Wheezy Joe subplot was fun. The slight suggestions of surrealism in Miles' boss were very enjoyable, although on the other hand, I found myself lamenting that surrealism wasn't the focus of the whole film.Glancing at other reviews, obviously the film worked for some people. Maybe if you're more in the market for a realist drama cum light farce about divorce lawyers, you'd appreciate it more than I did. But for me, it has me rethinking my desire to collect all of the Coen brothers' films on DVD.
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