MovieChat Forums > Intolerable Cruelty (2003) Discussion > If u can't believe the Coen Bros. did th...

If u can't believe the Coen Bros. did this movie u don't know their work

posted 17 years ago by LatinaLibra
3 replies | jump to latest

This movie is filled with satirical humor mixed with intellectual references! Just listened to the Shakespeare quotes and the very ODD and funny scene in court with Rex and Marilyn!Or the Vegas wedding with Scottish kilts and bagpipes! It's satire and it's funny! This is SO Coen Brothers! Just because it isn't "Oscar worthy" doesn't, and shouldn't, negate the validity of this movie and any other movie they have done. So much of this movie is embellished, that it's impossible, i think, to take it as a "serious" romantic comedy. Obviously, it's not. I mean, it is sugary but the humor elements alone should scream Coen Brothers, if you weren't aware before.

This is definitely a Coen Brothers film, and for a RomCom (something they don't usually do), it's bearable.

hugz kisses and candy
Cinthya

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] waddayanuts 17 years ago

I agree, it's obviuously "Coen-esque". The Coens are big fans of the Hollywood Golden Era and all of their films are made as a classic Hollywood-movie but twisted into their own style. They're all modern takes on the film noir-genre, screwball-comedy or musicals. Although I haven't seen that many screwball-comedies, I can easily see that Intolerable Cruelty is a take on that genre but with Noir-elements added to it (The femme fatale and the private detective, etc.).

Besides that, it's very Coen-esque on many other levels:
- The repeated dialogue as already mentioned in another post (i.e. "I'm gonna nail your ass!"
- The quirky minor characters
- Roger Deakins' characteristic cinematography.

I have a few other arguments that I just can't remember right now, and I have to go. I might get back if I have the time.

The Dude abides

[–] eerwicker 17 years ago

And Herb Meyerson, and Wheezy Joe, real OTT grotesques. Not the types you usually see in a rom-com. Not the Coens' finest but it's OK, silly and funny and cynical enough. They were trying to do a quirky screwball rom-com and that's what you get.

I am a sick man... I am a spiteful man. An unattractive man. I think that my liver hurts.