Artist Intolerable Cruelty

The previews for Intolerable Cruelty were shockingly underwhelming, especially for Coen Brothers fans: a George Clooney/Catherine Zeta-Jones romantic comedy about divorce lawyers? For real? Hopefully whoever put together the trailer never found work in Hollywood again, because those who warily soldiered on into the theater were treated to one of the most bitingly dark (yet, in its own way, cute) treatises on love ever put to film. After thwarting Zeta-Jones’ attempts to bankrupt her cheating husband, divorce lawyer Clooney eventually falls for her himself and marries her (sans pre-nup), exposing his own wealth. After multiple (and hilarious) twists, turns, and back-stabbings, love wins out over greed and moral vacuity after all—but a traditional chick-flick date movie Intolerable Cruelty is most certainly not.

Updated 09/23/2009