Miles Massey (Clooney) is a divorce lawyer that does not hesitate when it is time to do everything he can to help his clients to get more money. He is swimming in it himself, but is going through a midlife crisis and gets bored easily. He has trouble finding anything that catches his attention; at least until he meets Marylin (Zeta-Jones). She is the wife of one of his clients and is looking to get every penny from her cheating husband and leave him in ruins. In an effort to win the case and save his client, Masey decides to court Marylin and get her to be a cheater too, thus evening the playing field. And that is where the fun is supposed to begin, but it really does not work out all that well.

Clooney and Zeta-Jones do an OK job with the acting, but the script does not have the spark needed to make it really funny. The only real hilarious parts are the first scene in the film and one of the scenes featuring Cedric the Entertainer, who acts the part of a private investigator. The cast also includes Billy Bob Thornton who does his job proficiently in his role of a magnate from Texas. I sure hope the next production from the Coen brothers is better than this one...please!

The Title Says It All
Review date: 2005-03-29 Rating: 2 out of 10

Clearly the title was a reference to the suffering of the viewer.

This is a trite, predictable, unamusing, unbeleivable and overlong (by about 90 minutes) attempt to showcase Clooney and Zeta Jones. All to no avail.

hidden gems
Review date: 2005-03-09 Rating: 6 out of 10

I watched this film with my foreign students as a class project. Upon closer study I realised that there a are a lot of hidden gems in this script and it becomes funnier the more you watch it. The plot is off the shelf but the cohen brothers have added their usual touch of lunatic genius by producing characyers such as Heinze the Baron Von Espy, Gus Petch and Wheezy Joe and this makes the film highly comical, watchable and just downright entertaining. Its not an intellectual masterpiece and it doesn't break any boundaries but it does exactly what it says on the tin. Its funny, its romantic, its entertaining!

The acting of Zeeta Jones is constrained but then there is little scope for her to improvise but she does a tolerable if not "memorable" job and provides excellent support for Clooney. The film is in fact more centered around Clooney's character and his little touches of neuroticism and insecurity (not something required in his usual roles) anre highly comical. The look on his face in the scene where Wheezy Joe confuses his inhaler with the gun is one of the most memorable in the film and produced side-splitting lauhs from the students!

In short a good all rounder, stock up on films like this for when you are feeling blue and don't give it such a hard time for not being Fargo!

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