Love Unconventionally
The dialogue in Intolerable Cruelty, the Coen brothers' latest DVD release, crackles with life as we're plunged headfirst into a world of quirks and subversive wit. Though not as brilliant as The Big Lebowski, the dark romantic comedy fares better than The Hudsucker Proxy, another of their few scripts with outside collaborators.
George Clooney plays marital attorney Miles Massey, famed for his unbreakable prenuptial agreements. Catherine Zeta-Jones is Marylin Rexroth, a gold-digger whose business is marrying wealthy men and then destroying them in divorce court.
Marylin is left with nothing after Miles defends her latest husband. She plots revenge against the wealthy Miles, who makes himself an easy target and soon falls in love. Miles realizes he's witnessing not only beauty and genius, but also a mind to challenge his own. To get his money, Marylin must find a way to get around the unbreakable Massey prenup.
Clooney combines the smoothness of his Ocean's Eleven persona with the fast-talking goofiness of Ulysses Everett McGill from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Miles exudes self-deflating charm by unleashing a barrage of fake grins and spastic eyebrow movements.
Described by Miles as "an athlete at the peak of her powers," Zeta-Jones' Marilyn is sexy, intelligent and answers the witty banter and wacky situations that the film demands.
For another creative romantic comedy with an appealing male lead, check out Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love.
Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a man with deeply repressed emotions rooted in the cruelty of his sisters, involved in an odd, but passionate, romance with Lena Leonard (Emily Watson). Complications arise when Barry becomes involved a battle with a phone-sex company that attempts to pull a scam using his credit card number.
Like most Sandler movies, Punch Drunk Love is a comedy of wish fulfillment. Like Anderson's Magnolia and Boogie Nights, it plays out on several levels, some serious and some lighthearted.
Sandler's eccentric performance and the surreal mood that Anderson creates, work to make this offbeat love story, a fascinating cinematic experience.
Wes Bennett

February 12, 2004 * Vol. 14, No. 7
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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