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May 11 2011

Why films on TV in their original widescreen ratio is good for you

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Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by

Universal Pictures Video

Cert:

Cat.no: 8206826

Running time: 95 minutes

Year: 2003

Pressing: 2004

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 20 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras: A Look Inside Intolerable Cruelty, The Wardrobe, The Outtakes

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Director:

Joel & Ethan Coen (Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple, Fargo, Hudsucker Proxy, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers (2004), The Man Who Wasn't There, Miller's Crossing, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona)

Producers:

Ethan Coen and Brian Grazer

Screenplay:

Robert Ramset, Matthew Stone, Joel & Ethan Coen

Music:

Carter Burwell

Cast:

Miles Massey: George Clooney
Marylin Rexroth: Catherine Zeta Jones
Donovan Donaly: Geoffrey Rush
Gus Petch: Cedric the Entertainer
Rex Rexroth: Edward Herrman
Wrigley: Paul Adelstein
Freddy Bender: Richard Jenkins
Howard D Doyle: Billy Bob Thornton
Sarah Sorkin: Julia Duffy
Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy: Jonathan Hadary
Herb Myerson: Tom Aldredge
Bonnie Donaly: Stacey Travis
Ollie Olerud: Jack Kyle
Soap opera actor on TV (uncredited): Bruce Campbell

Intolerable Cruelty or is it Unbelievable Cruelty, as I overheard someone once call it because of the odd title, or should it really be called Tedious Banality?

George Clooney plays hot-shot lawyer Miles Massey, who doesn't really know what he's talking about but makes a good living by flying by the skin of his teeth. Catherine Zeta Jones is Marylin Rexroth, sociality and planning to get divorced from real estate king Rex Rexroth, her adulterous husband. When it comes to the leads in this chick flick rom-com, for me, neither are particularly appealing, and I can take or leave Coen Brothers films as they either strike home or they don't - and I didn't like their other Clooney outing, O Brother Where Art Thou? So what does this one hold in store?

A dreadfully dull 90 minutes, that's what. Clooney is the only one who has any kind of an engaging character, at first, but his smoothy behaviour soon grates and isn't exploited successfully so just becomes annoying. CZJ was annoying before this film began shooting, as she lives her life in the media spotlight married to looking-more-skeletal-than-ever Michael Douglas, and while she was an attractive young newcomer in the mid-90s, she's now turned herself into something of a joke suing people and magazines here, there and everywhere and sleepwalks her performance through this movie.

Of the rest of the cast, Billy Bob Thornton relieves the boredom briefly as oil tycoon and new love in Marylin's life, Howard D Doyle, Geoffrey Rush coasts along in his brief appearances as TV big-wig Donovan Donaly, and CZJ's lawyer, Freddy Bender, is played by the recognisable Richard Jenkins (Nathaniel Fisher Sr in the superb series, Six Feet Under), with an uncredited cameo as "Soap opera actor on TV" from Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell. However, where there's good there's also bad, and bottom of the pile is the badly-named Cedric the Entertainer as private eye Gus Petch, forever whinging on about 'nailing ass' on the part of those who deserve it.

As things move along predictably, the burgeoning relationship between Clooney and CZJ is signposted with all the subtlety of a 'Carry On' movie, and as the Coen Brothers completely lose the plot this descends inexorably into farce.

For those who can't get enough of the Clooney-CZJ pairing, then you can see them together in Xmas 2004's action-heist sequel Ocean's Twelve.

Billy Bob is the only one who can try to save this mess.

The picture is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio with a brief bit of stuttery picture in an early courtroom scene, although the sound isn't affected. On the subject of the sound, there's Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 options, but this isn't an action movie - it's a lame attempt at comedy with precious little of note in the sound FX category, so any audio is purely perfunctory.

The brief extras are as follows:

• A Look Inside Intolerable Cruelty (12 mins): Presented in 4:3 with letterbox 1.85:1 widescreen clips of the film, this blends those in with bog-standard interview clips from various key cast/crew members and nothing else. You'll learn no surprises here.

• The Wardrobe (5 mins): More chat and clips, this time about the outfits in the movie, of which there are plenty.

• The Outtakes (7½ mins): Four clips. Outtakes from the 'berries' scene, plus extra for Clooney and for CZJ, and Rex Rexroth's home movies.

And for anyone who cares, as you insert the disc, you first get a skippable 3-minute Robbie Williams trailer advertising the charity Unicef about ending child exploitation. What the hell's that got to do with a movie?

Subtitles are in English only, there are 20 chapters and the menu features music from the film, replaying it over and over a few times before starting the film again whether you wanted it to or not - and I didn't!

Chemistry has never failed to ignite less than with these two.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.

As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.

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