The age old problems of money versus love and the sanctity of marriage are raised by none other than two of the most esteemed American directors working, Joel and Ethan Coen. Their biting cynicism and humorous view of the macabre have lead them to do tremendous work in the past and prior to this film ("Barton Fink", "Fargo"), though it has also lead them astray ("The Hudsucker Proxy", "The Man Who Wasn't There"). This film falls almost squarely in the latter bunch I'm sorry to say so.
An outstanding cast heads the Coen brothers' first true adventure into the world of romantic comedies and it is a fiery misstep, but what makes things so unfortunate is that it didn't need to be. All of the elements of a very good film are there ready to be assembled, but Joel made several mistakes along the way. It seems to be factual that the brothers build their best pieces when they direct together. More often than not it is the two of them writing together, Ethan produces and Joel directs. Without each other keeping one another in check Joel tends to veer off into the fantastic and eventually the ridiculous in his attempt create a counterculture piece of film.
In this case we have a divorce attorney, Miles (George Clooney) who has become so absorbed in profiting from the heartache of failed marriages that he has forgotten how to love. He is slick, charming, has the smile of a used-car salesman and always gets the ladies. They mean no more to him than his private jet. Money is money and sex is sex. He wants them both, but they are only temporary providers of happiness.
Everything changes when he defends a man whose wife is divorcing him for having cheated on her. Catherine Zeta Jones is Marilyn, the stunning man-hater who falls into a circle of women who marry only to divorce for money. These women are ruthless, with no hearts but the sharpest of minds who marry whilst thinking of the next five years and the ways in which they can break their husbands and their piggy-banks.
Both Miles and Marilyn know of each others' skills, but this does not stop Miles for falling head over heels in love with her. And how could he not? She is disgustingly beautiful, the Grace Kelly of our generation, is wicked smart and the most horribly donned British accent. She is simply a creature not made for mortal man. Their is fire between the two of them, but surely it is a ploy on Marilyn's part. We ask ourselves, "How can you be so stupid, Miles?!" Look into those glorious eyes and tell me you wouldn't do the same.
So far the plot is moving along just fine. Minor hiccups, but the one-liners sing and the chemistry between the two leads in palpable. But then Joel is left unchecked and the film falls apart into a schlock-fest full of bad jokes built around misunderstandings. This tends to happen in Coen bros. films, but normally they tackle it with just the right amount of gravitas to let the audience know that although the material is harmful they are handling it with a bit of tongue and cheek. Here, however, they go for easy jokes in the third act that aren't funny and a finale that borders on exasperating.
They will make this mistake in future films, but it is unfortunate that it had to happen here considering, as I said, the parts for a good film are there. If they had stayed true to the material and handled the situation with the tiniest bit of seriousness then the jokes would have worked and the final scenes might have made more sense. When the two of them do their work correctly murder becomes funny and humor becomes black. That's their specialty. This time it wasn't dark enough for their tricks to work and so, despite the work of their immensely talented cast which also includes Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Richard Jenkins and Billy Bob Thornton, the film simply doesn't resonate as it should.
2.5/4
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