I just saw my first preview for the upcoming Coen Brother’s movie Intolerable Cruelty this weekend. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m sure it will be hilarious, but what seems unusual about it is that it seems to lack a distinct visual style. I look at the Coen’s past films and each one has an artistic and cinemtography style all their own…compare Brother Where Art Thou? to The Man Who Wasn’t There. The only style I can think of upon seeing clips of this new movie is “normal Hollywood.”
What have people heard about Intolerable Cruelty ? What do you think?
It’s always difficult to tell things about style from short clips in a preview. The Hudsucker Proxy was a parody of early screwball comedies; maybe this one is a parody of modern courtroom dramas.
It’s always difficult to tell things about style from short clips in a preview. The Hudsucker Proxy was a parody of early screwball comedies; maybe this one is a parody of modern courtroom dramas.
Favorite clip from trailer:
Lawyer: Objection! Strangling the witness!
Judge: I’m going to allow this.
I rented this movie last week and I found the title to be a perfect description of the experience. A word of warning for Coen bros. fans: avoid this movie at all costs. It seems that they really mailed this one in.
I saw it in the theatres and I thought it was great. Everyone I’ve talked to has an extreme opinion of the film, but I just don’t understand how someone could find it unfunny – I was laughing so much there were more than a few times I had trouble breathing. In fact, I’m now laughing again just thinking about it.
There were some funny moments, particularly with regards to Wheezy Joe, and I liked Julia Duffy very much. With that said, it simply doesn’t stack up to the rest of their work IMO. The fact that the story wasn’t theirs says a lot - it appears that they received writhing credits for their doctoring of the script.
I’m still on the fence regarding George Clooney’s talent, and I didn’t quite buy the chemistry between him and CZJ.
Yeah, probably their worst movie. However, I’ve only seen it once, and that was my reaction to The Big Lebowski the first time I saw it. Now it’s one of my all time faves. I liked Clooney quite a bit. He’s a great match for the Coen brother’s retro stylings. CZJ did as good as she could with what she had, but I hated her character. Didn’t find her remotely likable, and I was actively rooting against her and Clooney hooking up. Possibly because we see Clooney’s character get soundly punished for being such an amoral scumbag, but Jones never gets a comensurate comeuppance. By the end of the movie, she gets millions of dollars and George Clooney, and she never had to give anything up. I gotta tell you, I was hoping like hell there would be a final twist where Clooney plays her the way she played him, and leaves her out in the cold.
Still, I’ll watch it agian, probably buy the DVD at some point. There were a lot of great moments, and the rest might improve with repeated viewings.
I loved it, didn’t know it was a Coen Bros flick. Loved O Brother Where Art Thou, hated The Big Lebowski. I really enjoyed the style of comedy, it’s something I haven’t seen before.
It was also my reaction to The Big Lebowski the first time I saw it and I thought, why doesn’t this work? All the Coen elements are there- it’s gotta be me. Watched it again. Didn’t see anything different. That movie is just a hodge-podge.