Intolerable Cruelty
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| Intolerable Cruelty | |
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| Directed by | Joel Coen Ethan Coen Uncredited |
| Produced by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Written by | Ethan Coen & Joel Coen & Robert Ramsay & Matthew Stone & John Romano |
| Starring | George Clooney Catherine Zeta-Jones Billy Bob Thornton Cedric The Entertainer Geoffrey Rush |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Editing by | Ethan Coen & Joel Coen as Roderick Jaynes |
| Release date(s) | September 30, 2003 |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English French |
| Budget | $60,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Intolerable Cruelty is a 2003 dark comedy/romance directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cedric the Entertainer, and Billy Bob Thornton. It was released by Universal Pictures and received mixed reviews from critics.
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[edit] Plot
George Clooney portrays Miles Massey, the nation's top divorce attorney, creator of the Massey Pre-Nup, a pre-nuptial agreement which has never been successfully challenged, meaning that no party to it can benefit financially in the event of a divorce. In court, Massey is an ultimate power: suave, prepared, and ready to destroy the opposition. However, Massey is in the middle of a mid-life crisis. No longer enchanted by his wealth and excess, Massey's life (and heart) is turned inside out after he meets Catherine Zeta-Jones, who portrays Marilyn Rexroth, a serial divorcee. Massey and Rexroth battle in court, with Massey winning his case.
Rexroth then marries Howard D. Doyle (played by Billy Bob Thornton), an oil millionaire. They subsequently divorce and Rexroth bumps into Massey at a convention of divorce attorneys in Las Vegas. Massey is besotted with her and marries her on the spur of the moment but first gets her to sign a pre-nuptial agreement. But she later tears it up, happy and content in her new marriage. Massey has become a changed man and decides to abandon divorce work in favour of pro-bono work in East Los Angeles. However, while celebrating this decision, Massey discovers that Howard D. Doyle is in fact an actor from a soap opera and not an oil millionaire.
This leaves Massey's wealth exposed to Marilyn's asset stripping. He hires an assassin to kill her, but before the plan is completed, he learns that Marilyn's first husband Rex Rexroth has died of a heart attack, leaving millions to Marilyn. Massey now stands to benefit from a divorce, so he attempts to stop the assassination with tragically comic results. At the end, Massey and Rexroth meet at a divorce attorney's office to hammer out a deal. Massey is now the stronger partner but he is still in love with Marilyn. He shows his trust in Marilyn by retroactively signing a pre-nuptial agreement. Marilyn destroys it, and they kiss and reconcile.
[edit] Quotes
- Counselor Bender: "Objection, your Honor! Strangling the witness!"
Judge Munson: "I'm going to allow it." - Massey (ordering lunch from a diner): "Ham sandwich on stale rye bread. Lots of mayo, easy on the ham."
- Gus Petch: "I'm gonna nail yo' ass!"
- Marylin Rexroth: "I've invested five good years in my marriage to Rex and I've nailed his ass fair and square. Now I'm going to have it stuffed, mounted, and have my lady friends come over and throw darts at it."
[edit] Trivia
- The judge (Marva Munson) shares the same name as the lead female protagonist in the subsequent Coen Brothers film The Ladykillers.
- Rex Rexroth's (played by Edward Herrmann) house has the ЯR as in another movie starring Herrmann in Ri¢hie Ri¢h.
- Massey's ancient superior, Herb Meyerson, is aided by several medical life support machines, one of which makes the same sound as the tracking radar in the rescue pod from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. When Massey and Meyerson shake hands, the pod radar's 'lock-on' sound can be heard.
| Films directed by Joel and Ethan Coen |
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| Blood Simple • Raising Arizona • Miller's Crossing • Barton Fink • The Hudsucker Proxy • Fargo • The Big Lebowski • O Brother, Where Art Thou? • The Man Who Wasn't There • Intolerable Cruelty • The Ladykillers • No Country for Old Men |
