Stax looks at the Coen Brothers' next project, set to star George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones!

February 26, 2002 - Stax here with my reaction to the screenplay for Intolerable Cruelty! This 110-page draft dated December 8, 1994 is by Joel and Ethan Coen (The Man Who Wasn't There). It's a rewrite of an original draft by scribes Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone (Big Trouble) that's based on a story idea by John Romano. Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme flirted with directing Cruelty but then the Coens sparked to it after To the White Sea fell apart. Intolerable Cruelty will finally go before cameras later this year in Los Angeles. Joel Coen, who will direct, has ditched the Demme-authorized rewrites in favor of the draft he and brother Ethan wrote. Throughout its years in development hell, various actors – including Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Hugh Grant, and Tea Leoni – have all been attached to it but now Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney will star.

Intolerable Cruelty pays homage to the "screwball comedy" genre popular during the 1940s. Miles Massey (Clooney) is the most successful divorce attorney in Southern California. This is the story of his comeuppance and change of heart. Miles, a verbose trickster, handles many high-profile divorces and always wins big for his client. He's hired to represent wealthy Rex Rexroth – who harbors a very strange sexual fetish – who is being divorced by his gorgeous gold-digger wife, Marylin (Zeta-Jones)

Although he's the opposition counsel, Miles is smitten by the man-eating, churn 'em-and-burn 'em Marylin and makes his interest known to her. (She marries wealthy men and quickly disposes of them to get half their fortunes; she also has a way of getting them to forsake pre-nup agreements.) Although enchanted by Marylin, Miles is out to win; he ends up humiliating her in court.

Vexed that Miles foiled her get rich scheme, Marylin sets her sights on revenge ... even if it means marrying Miles to accomplish it! Trouble is, Miles has undergone a change of heart and fallen for this dangerous beauty. Will love win out over cynicism and greed? That's the question this dark comedy asks.

Miles has become bored with success; there are no more worlds left to conquer, you could say. That leaves only love, the realm of emotion, all those positive life elements that his vocation has required he forsake. I can't say exactly why Miles falls for the duplicitous Marylin the way he does. He's obviously smitten with her "win at all costs" attitude; does she remind Miles of himself? Perhaps Miles is like a Film Noir protagonist who can't help but fall for the femme fatale despite his better judgment.

I did find Intolerable Cruelty trying at times. The Coen Brothers flick it reminded me of most was O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which is my least favorite of their works. Like that film, this story often tried too hard to be funny and ended up being merely amusing. Most of Act Two seemed like the same gag repeated again and again. I was wondering where the story was headed and why I should remain interested in these characters, especially since I wasn't exactly splitting my sides laughing.

Then the final act turned my opinion around. Act Three is when all the chickens come home to roost, when Miles and Marylin are out for each other's blood (literally). The urge to find out whether or not Miles and Marylin will end up together in the end (or just end up dead) kept me turning the pages, and generated the most suspense and humor in the story.

Ultimately, Intolerable Cruelty turned out to be an amiable piece of fluff.