The divorce comedy Intolerable Cruelty stars a smooth George Clooney squaring off with an alluring Catherine Zeta-Jones. The plot is transparent: a rich and prestigious lawyer (Clooney) adeptly outsmarts a gold digger Marylin Rexroth (Zeta-Jones) when she divorces him. She then plots to get revenge. Born from the ingenious thoughts of the Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?), who are known for picking bizarre but excellent characters-setting combination, Intolerable Cruelty features a Scottish wedding chapel in Las Vegas, an asthmatic assassin, European nobility (known for constantly stroking fluffy dogs), and an eternally indestructible pre-nuptial agreement. Although slightly held-back considering Coen standards, the move comes across with smooth consistency. It never tumbled into a disappointing finish as most of their movies can, while it never quite reached the height of their best work either. Somewhere in the middle of Coen humor and wit, it is still pretty funny with flawless performance not only from the main leads but also Cedric the Entertainer, Billy Bob Thornton, and Geoffrey Rush as the support cast.
. –Bret Fetzer