by Kate Crofts
Daily Lobo
Hilariously scripted and brilliantly acted, "Intolerable Cruelty" will have audiences laughing and cringing at the same time.
The golden era of Hollywood created a formula. Boy meets girl, something stands in their way but it is ultimately overcome and the couple weds, living happily ever after. In this classical archetype, the drama is in the chase and the wedding is the resolution.
In this film, the marriage is just the beginning of the conflict.
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney, the movie opens on Friday and is an effective social satire. "Intolerable Cruelty" comments on the non-existent sanctity of marriage and the modern economy of relationships.
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Marriage is a game, Zeta-Jones and Clooney are the players and the prize is 50 percent of the spouse's net worth.
Zeta-Jones plays the money-hungry Marilyn Rexworth, soon to be ex-wife of multimillionaire Rex Rexworth. Clooney is Miles Massey, ruthless divorce lawyer, infamous for his ability to acquire massive settlements for his clients.
Massey always wins - his clients' transgressions are of no matter. The film's opening scenes establish this trait as much as they establish the comedic nature of the film.
Donovan Donnelly (Geoffrey Rush) arrives home early and finds his wife, Bonnie, entertaining the pool man. Assured the pool man is merely selling pool cleaners door-to- door, Donnelly temporarily regains his composure.
"Ok sure, well I guess we'll take a couple of filters, but wait, we don't have a pool!" he says.
In the ensuing conflict Donovan is stabbed with his Lifetime Television Achievement Award, brandishes a gun and shoots after his fleeing bride. Ego bruised, Donnelly files for divorce. Thanks to Massey's representation, victory belongs to Bonnie - after all, who is to say the pool cleaner wasn't there to see Mr. Donnelly?
Massey's career has thrived on bending the truth and the defamation of seemingly innocent victims. Massey coasts through every case, pausing only to whiten his teeth. His results have former millionaires sleeping in gutters, but his conscience - if present - has never slowed him down. His first obstacle comes in the form of a beautiful opposing client: Mrs. Marilyn Rexworth.
Marilyn Rexworth is similarly calculating in her associations with marriage - she enjoys the chase. The hunt though is not over when the ring is around her finger. For her, the game is over when she is awarded a mammoth settlement having "nailed her spouse's ass" and "mounted it to the wall."
After finding herself a "silly man" to wed, a man who will be unfaithful to her, Marilyn Rexworth seems set to score her goal. Her first roadblock is the devilish lawyer, Massey, who assures her of an inherent similarity between the two.
"I, too, am just looking for an ass to mount," he says.
In this no-holds-barred look at relationships, matrimony is a battle that begins with "I do" and ends with "this hearing is adjourned." The key players are equally conniving, artfully deceitful and both hell-bent on winning.
They play skillfully and without conscience, fearing only the death card, an unwelcome factor that leaves their plans in ruins. Love is the death card. Love may blind them, and lead them to enter into matrimony without an ironclad prenuptial agreement.
