Intolerable Cruelty

Intolerable Cruelty

Intolerable Cruelty, the tenth feature-length film directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen, takes its viewers into the lives of wealthy people who seem to have lost their thirst for life. Unlike in the typical Cohen brother’s fashion, the characters aren’t fighting or risking for their lives for the almighty dollar in some elaborate scheme. Instead, each character already has enough money to live a happy and fulfilling life, but for some reason their lives are anything but fulfilling. The Cohen’s do a superb job of instilling some of their reoccurring themes into this upscale black comedy/drama story; greed, desire, revenge, and the ever unpredictable human nature. I say nature because, well, as Marilyn Rexroth puts it, people don’t go on Safaris because they hate animals. This film is a prime example of what happens when different species from the same ecosystem collide.
The films’ opening sequence of Donovan Donaly finding his wife with the plumber should be evident that this is going to be another comedic caper. It is the epitome of a stereotype indeed, but that’s all fine and dandy since the universe created for these characters is filled with said stereotypes. From he midlife crisis hotshot lawyer who has everything and nothing, to the devious mega-bitch asset-stripper who wants to see how much more rare game she can add to her collection (her past divorce settlements), the film goes back and forth in a cat and mouse like game of opposites attract. Going into battle isn’t about money, though it is apparent that the characters are driven by their own separate agendas.
The crazy, fashionable and hectic lives that celebrities are all but parodied in this Cohen Brothers’ film, being a character all its own. Throughout the story every character is dressed to the nines in marvelous attire. Clooney’s character is frantically obsessed with keeping a clean set of teeth, an indication of how image goes hand in hand with success. It would almost seem as if...