Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
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75% of critics liked it
(179 reviews) -
44% of users liked it
(64,900 ratings)
Joel and Ethan Coen take on the classic battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedy with Intolerable Cruelty. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis . While representing wealthy client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), Miles meets his match in… More Joel and Ethan Coen take on the classic battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedy with Intolerable Cruelty. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis . While representing wealthy client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), Miles meets his match in Rex's gold-digging wife, Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He's impressed by her similarly heartless ways of using marriage to fuel an expensive lifestyle, but he still defeats her in court. With Marilyn looking to get her revenge and Miles finding himself attracted to her, the two engage in a ruthless romantic pursuit to out-swindle each other. Billy Bob Thornton shows up in a small role as Texas oil tycoon Howard Doyle. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Directed By
- Joel Coen
- Written By
- Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- In Theaters
- Oct 10, 2003 Wide
- Studio
- Universal Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine
Here's an anomaly: a comedy about smart people.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
The Coens do an efficient job of stamping their signature grotesquerie on sumptuous Beverly Hills and Las Vegas settings and ladling on gallows humor and malice, sometimes with the verve of early Robert Zemeckis.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Inventive and hilarious.
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Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
The Coen Brothers do provide enough of a diversion with bits and pieces of wacko casting, and with the deranged details of dress and makeup of their fleeting gargoyles, to make the proceedings at least moderately amusing.
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Rex Reed, New York Observer
This dim-witted, mean-spirited and brain-dead calamity should surprise no one.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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George Clooney
as Miles Massey
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Catherine Zeta-Jones
as Marylin Rexroth
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Geoffrey Rush
as Donovan Donnelly
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Cedric the Entertainer
as Gus Petch
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Edward Herrmann
as Rex Rexroth
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Richard Jenkins
as Freddy Bender
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Billy Bob Thornton
as Howard Doyle
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Paul Adelstein
as Wrigley
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Julia Duffy
as Sara Sorkin
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Stacey Travis
as Bonnie Donovan
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Jack Kyle
as Ollie Olerud
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Jonathan Hadary
as Heinz the Baron Krauss von Espy
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Irwin Keyes
as Wheezy Joe
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Tom Aldredge
as Herb Myerson
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Royce D. Applegate
as Mr. Gutman
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John Bliss
as Mr. MacKinnon
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Andre Rosey Brown
as Gus's Pal
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Blake Clark
as Convention Secretary
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Booth Colman
as Gutman Trial Judge
- Kristin Datillo
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Judith Drake
as Mrs. Gutman
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Doug Fisher
as Maitre D'
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Mary Gillis
as Court Reporter
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Mary Pat Gleason
as Nero's Waitress
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Ken Sagoes
as Gus's Pal
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Isabell Monk
as Judge Marva Munson
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Kiersten Warren
as Claire O'Mara
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Sean Fenton
as Bailiff
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George Ives
as Mrs. Gutman's Lawyer
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Kristin Dattilo-Hayward
as Rex's Young Woman
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Mia Cottet
as Ramona Barcelona
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Kate Luyben
as Santa Fe Tart
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Wendle Josepher
as Miles' Receptionist
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Tamie Sheffield
as Santa Fe Tart
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Patrick Thomas O'Brien
as Bailiff
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Kitana Baker
as Santa Fe Tart
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Julie Osburn
as Stewardess
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Allan Trautman
as Convention Lawyer
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Camille Anderson
as Santa Fe Tart
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Emma Harrison
as Santa Fe Tart
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Colin Linden
as Father Scott
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Bridget Marquardt
as Santa Fe Tart
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Gary Marshal
as Las Vegas Waiter
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Nicholas Shaffer
as Waiter
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Dale E. Turner
as Gus's Pal


