367. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

Starring: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Bob Thornton

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Running Time: 100 mins

Intolerable Cruelty is an American film about a smooth-talking and charismatic divorce lawyer who encounters a flirtatious woman who is determined to use the law for her own profit, which eventually causes the two to become involved in their own legal sparring.

This film was really disappointing. Nothing really fitted at all in the story, from the comedic and farcical atmosphere amongst the complex legislative situation, along with the fact that all of the actors were just going way over the top for their roles and personas.

Firstly, this film was extremely irritating to watch due to the hyperbolic nature of all of the characters. It was clear that that was the directive for the actors, but that over-acting really didn’t suit the film at all, becoming too obvious to see throughout, distracting me from the overall story.

Speaking of the story, it was incredibly messy and repetitive. Although it may seem like a relatively interesting concept to follow, the way in which it was presented, having one woman divorce about three or four times in 100 minutes, made it annoying and predictable to watch, while the legal cases spurting out from this main branch of the story were placed so randomly they just seemed irrelevant.

Sometimes a farce can be quite funny, but here, they went over the top, and put it in perfectly the wrong setting, and with a poor story and annoying acting, I was hugely disappointed by this film, so that’s why it gets a 5.3 from me.