INTOLERABLE  CRUELTY    -  A  Narada Film Review

  CEDRIC says,
  ''Ahm gonna NAIL yo ass !''     
     
   BILLY BOB THORNTON 
   is a rich Texas oilman...      
     
   CATHERINE ZETA-JONES 
        &
   GEORGE CLOONEY 
   conning each other.....
Intolerable Cruelty - 2003   -Joel Coen-Director  &   Ethan Coen-Producer
    Every once in a great while, a part will come along that only one actor could possibly do justice to - a part that was "made for him".  -A part that he wouldn't have to 'get into', or feign any new idiosyncratic behavior for - because that part was already "him".   In INTOLERABLE CRUELTY that part presented itself to George Clooney - he actually got to play the part of a phony, would-be sophisticate so full of himself there is barely room for the hubris.
         INTOLERABLE CRUELTY explores the funny side of unscrupulous, cheating, money-grubbing wives of the wealthy and their unscrupulous, cheating, money-grubbing, lawyers.  The Coens apparently thought there was enough in this to make a smash "Romantic Comedy", and they proceeded to throw every cliched snippet into the film that Hollywood has mandated as "funny".  Let me explain,  Hollywood thinks it is terribly funny if people get married and, or divorced every fifteen minutes.  If it happens more frequently than that, it is even funnier.  Hollywood also thinks its just outrageously funny if the Beverly Hills rich idly shoot a clip or two from their 9mm. pistols into their car as their wives drive away.  This is so ineffably funny that the police aren't even interested in such lighthearted shenanigans.  Prenups (prenuptial agreements) are bandied about like paddywacks in a Three Stooges short, and our protagonists even attempt to give Shakespeare a humorously sophisticated rendering.  Aside from The Bard spinning violently and helplessly in his grave, Vin Diesel as a ballerina would have more going for him than George Clooney spouting 'the revered verse'.  INTOLERABLE CRUELTY had the whole magilla - every humor schtick in the genre, and none of it worked.
        The one bright spark of natural acting ability and honest humor (too late) was Billy Bob Thornton, as the rich Texas oilman.  He proved yet again that he can do anything well.  Nevertheless no amount of weddings, divorces, connivances or triple-crosses was able to save the last hour and fifteen minutes of the film.  Do yourself a favor, go see Looney Tunes.
      Enduring Line or Phrase:  "...weep and wail like Baptists at a funeral.."
© 2003,    Bangkok Eyes / bangkokeyes.com      

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