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If you're feeling cynical about love these days, have I got a movie for you! You know a film isn't your normal romantic comedy when a pre-nuptial agreement becomes a sign of deepest love. Intolerable Cruelty may end with a kiss (I won't say between whom), but it's dark heart is firmly on the side of the divorce lawyers.

The main divorce lawyer in question is Miles Massey (George Clooney), a ruthless, smooth-talking attorney who never loses. Even when a client has been caught in flagrante delicto, as they say, Massey finds a way to get his man (or woman) all the money, minus Massey's own sizable fee, of course. Massey is famous in the divorce-lawyer community for drawing up a pre-nuptial agreement that "has never been penetrated." His motto is, "Time goes on. Ardor cools." It goes without saying that Massey is single but not available.

Not available, that is, until Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) strolls into his office. Though she's the enemy in this particular case, her exquisite beauty and steely resolve are like bait to Massey's fish. What follows is an entertaining, screwball-like dance between Miles and Marylin, one that decidedly avoids most of the romantic-comedy genre's cliches.

I knew I had surrendered to Intolerable Cruelty's disdainful tone when at an outdoor wedding, a priest strolled up the aisle, acoustic guitar in hand, singing a ridiculous folk song. In one hilarious 10-second shot, the Coen brothers skewer everything false about Hollywood weddings. And when Miles finally steps to the altar, he's wearing a ridiculous kilt.

George Clooney has quickly become one of my favorite actors, one that reminds me at times of Cary Grant. Not that Clooney has Grant's irrepressible grace, but he does have charm to spare and an unerring sense of which roles to accept. Clooney plays to his strengths, taking the stylish criminal in Out of Sight, the savvy soldier in Three Kings, the fast-talking lawyer in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the charming con-man in Ocean's Eleven. Ever since the execrable Batman & Robin, he's avoided the big-budget disasters. As my friend Garth put it, Clooney knows what Ben Affleck doesn't.

Clooney is particularly well-suited to the Coen brothers style of filmmaking--one with off-kilter characters talking a mile a minute and out of both sides of their mouth. Three simple words--"you fascinate me"--sound completely different coming from Clooney. He has a double-take that's priceless, as if he can't remember the last time he was surprised. And like Cary Grant, his charm has an oozy quality; it's gotten himself out of numerous tight spots before but might not be enough for his current troubles.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is fine in the role of the scheming gold-digger. The role doesn't provide for a lot of range, which is probably for the best. Geoffrey Rush has a wonderful cameo as a cuckolded husband, Billy Bob Thornton shows up to give us hillbilly shtick, and Paul Adelstein performs the put-upon assistant role with grace.

The Coen brothers play this movie a little straighter than they have in the past. While there is still the collection of odd-ball characters (a senior law partner who seems to speak from beyond the grave, a comically aggressive P.I. played by Cedric the Entertainer), Intolerable Cruelty also incorporates some stock aspects from other romantic comedies: the helpful but sexless sidekick, the sleek production design, the dinners at spectacularly beautiful restaurants.

Even more spectacular is Roger Deakins's cinematography. In particular, one scene shot completely in silhouette might be the most incredible thing I've seen all year. The opening credit sequence is also delightful, offering a nice satire on the Cupid myth.

At one point in Intolerable Cruelty, a minister intones, "In today's cynical world, it's so hard to take that leap of faith into love." There are few filmmakers more cynical than the Coen brothers. God bless 'em for
it. 

J. Robert Parks 10/13/2003