Intolerable Cruelty [Blu-ray]

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Joel Coen

Overview

Joel and Ethan Coen take on the classic battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedy with Intolerable Cruelty. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis. While representing wealthy client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), Miles meets his match in Rex's gold-digging wife, Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He's impressed by her similarly heartless ways of using marriage to fuel an expensive lifestyle, but he still defeats her in court. With Marilyn looking to get her revenge and Miles finding himself attracted to her, the two engage in a ruthless romantic pursuit to out-swindle each other. Billy Bob Thornton shows up in a small role as Texas oil tycoon Howard Doyle.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/04/2019
UPC:	0191329091401
Original Release:	2003
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Universal
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	7,386

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

George Clooney	Miles Massey
Catherine Zeta-Jones	Marylin Rexroth
Cedric the Entertainer	Gus Petch
Geoffrey Rush	Donovan Donaly
Edward Herrmann	Rex Rexroth
Richard Jenkins	Freddy Bender
Billy Bob Thornton	Howard D. Doyle
Paul Adelstein	Wrigley
Julia Duffy	Sarah Sorkin
Jonathan Hadary	Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy
Tom Aldredge	Herb Myerson
Irwin Keyes	Wheezy Joe
Colin Linden	Father Scott
Stacey Travis	Bonnie Donaly
Jack Kyle	Ollie Olerud
Judith Drake	Mrs. Gutman
Royce Applegate	Mr. Gutman,Mr. Gutman
George Ives	Mrs. Gutman's Lawyer
Booth Colman	Gutman Trial Judge
Kristin Dattilo	Rex' Young Woman
Andre Brown	Gus's Pal,Gus's Pal
Wendle Josepher	Miles' Receptionist
Mary Pat Gleason	Nero's Waitress
Mia Cottet	Ramona Barcelona
Kiersten Warren	Claire O'Hara
Ken Sagoes	Gus's Pal
Dale E. Turner	Gus's Pal
Doug Fisher	Maitre D',Maitre d'
Nicholas Shaffer	Waiter
Isabell Monk O'Connor	Judge Marva Munson
Mary Gillis	Court Reporter
Julie Obburn	Stewardess
Gary Marshal	Las Vegas Waiter
Blake Clark	Convention Secretary
Kate Luyben	Santa Fe Tart
Allan Trautman	Convention Lawyer
Camille Anderson	Santa Fe Tart
Kitana Baker	Santa Fe Tart
Bridget Marquardt	Santa Fe Tart
Julie Osburn	Stewardess
Tamie Sheffield	Santa Fe Tart
Emma Harrison	Santa Fe Tart
John Bliss	Mr. MacKinnon
Patrick Thomas O'Brien	Bailiff
Sean Fenton	Bailiff
Carter Burwell	Composer

Technical Credits

Joel Coen

Matthew Stone

Robert Ramsey

Joel Coen	Director,Screenwriter,Screenwriter,Producer,Director
Matthew Stone	Screenwriter
Robert Ramsey	Screenwriter
Sean Daniel	Executive Producer
James Jacks	Executive Producer
Ellen Chenoweth	Casting
Brian Grazer	Producer
Jery Hewitt	Stunts
Emmet Kane	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

Intolerable Cruelty feels exactly like what it is, a Coen brothers film that did not originate from the mind of Joel and Ethan. There are turns of phrase that are unmistakably the work of the duo, but the pacing of this story is not as crisp as their other work. There are a handful of quick-paced, snappy, dialogue-laden scenes and, in those sequences, the film takes full flight. George Clooney is inspired as the suave, vain divorce lawyer shark. He is thoroughly unlikable and yet the audience loves him. Clooney is one of the rare stars who is truly unafraid of looking buffoonish. He throws himself into this part; that the film works as well as it does has much to do with his performance. Catherine Zeta-Jones also delivers a strong performance, although her character being more inscrutable than Clooney's makes it difficult for her to connect with the audience in quite the same way. The rest of the cast is pretty much pitch-perfect, with Billy Bob Thornton getting huge laughs in a pair of scene-stealing sequences. Even though the pacing and the quality of the film varies from scene to scene, Intolerable Cruelty deserves credit for being a genuine update of the classic screwball comedy form. The screenplay is good enough, but the actors mine every ounce of quality from it.