Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

(In theaters, October 2003) The Coen Brothers doing a romantic comedy? Believe it… and it’s just about as quirky as their other films. George Clooney scores another great performance as a teeth-obsessed attorney who comes to be fascinated by a beautiful woman (the luminous Catherine Zeta-Jones) who’s out to get as much money as she can. Will they get together? Will it last? Will it have a happy ending? I can’t seriously answer that without spoiling the fun. Suffice to say that this is the Coen Brothers’ funniest film since The Big Lebowski. While Intolerable Cruelty isn’t particularly high on belly laughs, it’s amusing throughout and plays without too many false notes. The supporting characters alone are worth seeing. Some particularly witty sequences are built around the script’s cynical take on relationship, with the result that this romantic comedy feels rather more comedic than the usual puff-fluff rom-com. Good stuff.