Intolerable Cruelty

I just watched the Coen Bros.’ Intolerable Cruelty. Every once in a while, a movie comes along that is just a total pleasure to watch, and this is one. I mean, I like sexual tension, witty repartee, George Clooney in a nice suit and Catherine Zeta-Jones (though I think she’s looking a little thin and peaked in this one). It’s kinda goofy, in a fairly melodramatic, almost vaudevillian cinematic style that must have been an absolute joy to work in. I mean, you can see Clooney having fun; the slapstick stuff is clever without ending up stupid; the jokes are mostly smart, and the timing is dead on. This is how one does Romantic Comedy. It’s just an absolutely charming piece of cinema. I’ll give it 3 forks. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, but it also doesn’t really stick in one’s mind. I mean, I thought O Brother Where Art Thou? was a bit tedious, though very well made, but it wins for memorability.

I also really like that the Coen Bros. seem to have a really strong sense of music; unlike Tarantino, they can also integrate plot, good acting, good writing and humour into their movies
(Sorry Quentin, it has to be said that you are a great creator of mixed tapes and witty lines but a terrible filmmaker. If it wasn’t for editing and soundtrack, all you’d have would be a lot of snoozefests).

Anyway, this is the kind of movie or play I would really like to be in. One where you commit to acting unnaturally. Commedia Dell’arte, french farce, melodrama – that’s what I’d like to do. Something emotionally light and intellectually/physically challenging. I’ve done enough dark and disturbing theatre. It’s just brutal to do, and not in the end very rewarding, because you’re always defending it and usually the only people who say they like it are assholes who are trying to prove how edgy they are. I’m not saying I’d never do ‘gritty’ theatre again, just that I neither think it proves you’re a great actor, nor is it worth it if you don’t really enjoy it.

In a land of total overactors (acting in Peterborough = shouting with facial contortions), I’d like to up the ante; I’d like to overact on purpose, which is much more difficult than just standing there overacting because you don’t know any better and the director is too busy fellating themselves to notice.