It has been a great last few weeks for fans of great directors. With the recent releases of films by Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Richard Linklater and Ridley Scott as well as soon to be released films from Tim Burton and Gus Van Sant, it is shaping up to be the biggest month for great directors since May of 2002.
Some of these directors have lived up to their previous works. Linklater’s “School of Rock” and Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” are two such examples. Yet, there is another remarkable director that released a film in the last few weeks that didn’t fare so well; a pair of directors, actually. Their names are Joel and Ethan Coen, affectionately known as the Coen brothers.
The duo that brought unto the world “O Brother, where art thou?” and “The Big Lebowski” as well as the Academy-Award winning “Fargo” had finally released a new movie and I could not have been more excited. “Intolerable Cruelty” was its title, and as I walked into the theater, the suspense was killing me. I had just finished seeing “Kill Bill” and loved it, and I eagerly anticipated a repeat of the same blissful euphoria at the end of this picture.
Now sure, every preview I had seen of the movie thus far looked pretty dull and uninteresting, but that didn’t faze me, because this was the Coen brothers. They are easily one of Hollywood’s most talented hidden gems, filling their films with camera-symmetry, comedic irreverence, and beauty all at once. There is not one bad film in their entire filmography. From “Blood Simple” to “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” their list of credits include nothing but pure gold.
That was, until that fateful day when I went to go see “Intolerable Cruelty.” The film stars George Clooney as Miles Massey, a hotshot divorce lawyer who is great at his job. Catherine Zeta-Jones is money-hungry divorcee Marylin Rexroth, who is great at what she does as well. Together, they make up the lead characters in this fairly bland comedy.
Getting right down to it, if you go into this film not knowing anything about the previous works of the directing pair that helmed this movie, you will probably walk out feeling that you just saw a so-so romantic comedy with occasionally wacky visuals, but if you are a Coen brothers fan, there is a very good chance you will be disappointed by just how generic this film really is.
A word of advice; see a similar movie that came out recently on DVD and video, entitled “Down with Love.” Not only is it a lot quirkier, it’s a lot more fun. Better yet, see anything else the Coens have made.
“Intolerable Cruelty” might not be quite intolerable, but it is definitely cruel to have to associate it with other great Coen brothers’ films, like “Raising Arizona” and “Miller’s Crossing.” Yet, hopefully, this amazing directing duo will make up for this film next year when they work with the great Tom Hanks on a remake of the 1955 film “The Ladykillers.”
I can assure you, without hesitation, that the world is in big trouble if the brothers make two bad films in a row. The only possible rationalization of such a concept is that the world is ending and the apocalypse is upon us. So be prepared for the worst, because “Intolerable Cruelty” quite possibly set Armageddon in motion. Don’t say you weren’t warned.