The Coen Brothers: Intolerable Cruelty

This is the Coen's lowest rated film.  I personally like it.  It is not meant to be taken even just a little bit seriously.  I think what a lot of people don't understand about the film is that it was not their own in-house project to begin with; they were brought in a script doctors on a project that had hopelessly stalled, and the many changes made to the script by them veered the whole thing off the original "comedic" course--so much so, that if they hadn't personally stepped in and took on the film, it never would have gotten made.  I mean, for Heaven's sake, if you look at the writing credits on IMDb they number at a whopping 7, including the Coen's

Part of George Clooney's self-described "Idiot movie"--part of his also self-described "Coen Idiot Trilogy."  If doesn't say anything else about the Coen's as directors, they sheer number of their "favorites" lined up behind them to get the film made.  Along with Clooney came Billy Bob Thornton, and long time favorite Richard Jenkins.  They were able to lure a number of other actors of considerable note, who must have thought something good about the script.  There is:  Julia Duffy, Cederic the Entertainer (who assays the role of the "ass nailin' P.I. Gus Petch), Jeffery Rush, Edward Hermann, Paul Adelstein, and, of course, Catherine Zeta Jones.  If people don't like comedies about domestic strife, well that's fine; but to pan it out right as bad just seems wrong headed.  I mean this is based on the old Hollywood classical farce--and a pretty good one at that.  It is an old fashioned re-marriage comedy, along the lines of several Carey Grant films.

Trivia:

Employing a technique they had used before on Steve Buscemi (in Fargo and The Big Lebowski), Billy Bob Thornton's speaks his lines very fast here, because his character Ed Crane speaks so slowly in The Man Who Wasn't There.

Part of Herb Myerson's speech to Miles was lifted from President Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."  Some of the other lines in the film were taken from William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlow.

Actor Tom Aldrege assays the role Herb Myerson, the old man role of the film.  Far from being a lawyer--he is an old Broadway man.

The Judge is the "Honorable Marva Munson" (Isabelle O'Connor)--this is, of course, the name of the old lady in the Coen's remake of The Ladykillers  (2004).

Zeta-Jones was actually pregnant with her daughter at during the filming.  

Specs:

Runtime:  100 min.

Rated:  PG-13

Color

DTS

AKA:  Divorce Lawyer

Language:  English & French