Line #30 Film/IntolerableCruelty


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8	->'''Miles:''' (''after ordering dinner for both of them'') I assume you're a carnivore.\
9	'''Marilyn:''' Oh, Mr. Massey -- you have ''no'' idea.
10
11	This 2003 romantic comedy film is that rare [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Coen Brothers]] project based on someone else's idea. The original screenplay was written by Robert Ramsey and Matt Stone (not [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone that one]]), then touched up by the Coens. Ramsey and Stone had shopped it to Creator/RonHoward and Creator/JonathanDemme before the Coens got on board. Perhaps because of this, it seems a little out of place among their other films (not that a Coen Brothers romantic comedy wouldn't already seem out of place).
12
13	[[AlliterativeName Miles Massey]] (Creator/GeorgeClooney) is a hotshot Hollywood divorce attorney whose prenup is the industry standard ("They devote a whole semester to it at Harvard Law"). He takes the case of Rex Rexroth (Creator/EdwardHerrmann), and despite video evidence that Rex has "a [[UnusualEuphemism wandering pee-pee]]", Miles wins the case, and plaintiff Marilyn Rexroth (Creator/CatherineZetaJones) is left with nothing.
14
15	Or is she?
16	----
17	!!Tropes used include:
18	* AccidentalSuicide: [[spoiler:Wheezy Joe begins to have an asthma attack during his struggle with Miles and mistakes [[AteHisGun his gun for his inhaler]]]].
19	* AlliterativeName: More of them than a Superman comic: Miles Massey, Rex Rexroth, Donovan Donaly, Sarah Sorkin, Ollie Olerud, Judge Marva Munson, and of course [[spoiler:Marilyn Massey, although she's built up a nice collection of other surnames by then]].
20	* AnimalReactionShot: "Does Elsbieta want some bones?"
21	* ArcWords: "I nailed his ass." (Or, "[[GratuitousFrench faire un coup de marteau sur des fesses]]".) Or, how you say, make hammer on his fanny.
22	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Early in the film Marilyn says she spent several years to shore up her claim to Rex's money. When she marries the [[spoiler:fake]] oil billionaire, she says she's going to give it a few months before divorcing him, so she can show she tried to make the marriage work. But when she marries [[spoiler:Miles]], even though he realizes it was a sham within hours, it's treated as a given that Marilyn will get half his assets and she's able to force him out of his own house.
23	* AsthmaPeril: Played with by Wheezy Joe. He's an antagonist, but he has an asthma attack while he's fighting with Miles. He then mistakes his gun for his inhaler...and shoots himself in the mouth.
24	* AteHisGun: Wheezy Joe. By accident. To elaborate the accident was [[TooDumbToLive confusing his inhaler with his gun and shooting himself in the face.]]
25	* BackingIntoDanger: Plays the comedic version dead straight with two lawyers armed with pepper-spray stalking around a darkened house. The moment they enter the house you know [[DontSneakUpOnMeLikeThat what's going to happen...]]
26	* BeleagueredAssistant: Wrigley to Miles.
27	* ButIPlayOneOnTV: In-universe. Miles discovers that [[spoiler: Howard Doyle is not the real deal but rather just an actor]] when he sees him playing a doctor on a soap opera on TV.
28	* EternallyPearlyWhiteTeeth: One of the first times we see Miles, he's talking on a cell phone in the back of a town car; his face is in shadow but his upper teeth stand out brightly. Justified, in that he had just come from having them whitened. He also compulsively checks his teeth before every important meeting.
29	* FunWithAcronyms: National Organization of Marital Attorneys [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Nationwide]], or N.O.M.A.N. Their slogan is even [[AsTheGoodBookSays "let N.O.M.A.N. put asunder..."]]
30	* FunnyForeigner:
31	** Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy. "Silly man. I am a Baron."
32	** To a lesser extent, Geoffrey Rush's bit part as a larger-than-life Australian TV director.
33	* GoldDigger: Marilyn and all of her friends.
34	* HollywoodLaw: In America, if you were in your spouse's will before, but the two of you divorce later, the part of the will that left his/her property to you is automatically nullified. Also, one party's adultery is irrelevant, as divorce law is now no-fault in California and the rest of the US.
35	* HomeEarlySurprise: The film producer returns to his plush LA home in his smart convertible and finds the van of the local maintenance man in his driveway. He enters the house and heads for the bedroom, only to find a freshly vacated marital bed. A comedic fight ensues as the lovers enter the scene. After the fight people dash away in their cars. This scene is [[http://mulholland-drive.net/studies/intolerable.htm obviously]] a ShoutOut to ''Film/MulhollandDrive''.
36	* IrrevocableOrder: The lawyers find they cannot reach [[spoiler:the killer they hired.]]
37	* KansasCityShuffle: Miles thinks that Marilyn is marrying and then divorcing Howard Doyle for his money. It turns out that [[spoiler:Howard is just an actor, and the "marriage" is a ploy to fool Miles, her real target, in thinking that she's rich.]]
38	* LadyInRed: Marilyn, during the casino scene in which Miles really falls in love with her.
39	* MenAreChildish: In the words of [[PrivateDetective Gus Petch]]:
40	-->They never grow up, they just get tubby.
41	* OminousLegalPhraseTitle: The phrase ''intolerable cruelty'' is used in the law of divorce.
42	* OpeningTheme: Music/ElvisPresley's "Suspicious Minds"
43	* OverlyLongName:
44	** "Your honor, I call Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy" "Call Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy!" "Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy!" etc...
45	** Also, Marilyn herself, who adds the surnames of her ex-husbands to her own name. Wheezy Joe asks "is that one person?"
46	* ThePlan: Marilyn's plan to defeat Miles. (Anything involving Billy Bob Thornton is going to be complicated.)
47	* ThePollyanna: Wrigley, a divorce lawyer who cries at weddings. Massey name-drops the trope when he enthuses about the "berry spoons" he bought Marilyn as a second-wedding gift.
48	* PrenupBlowup: Drives the entire plot.
49	* PrivateDetective: Infidelity specialist Gus Petch, the least subtle PI in the world.
50	--> You want tact, call a tactician. You want ass nailed, you call Gus Petch.
51	* PsychoForHire: A funny case with Wheezy Joe. He's a psycho, [[StupidCrooks just not a very good one.]]
52	-->'''Miles:''' She won't suffer, will she?\
53	'''Wheezy Joe:''' Not unless you pay extra.
54	* RecurringRiff: Music/SimonAndGarfunkel tunes keep popping up.
55	* SkewedPriorities: Miles' reasons for [[spoiler:trying to recall the hit on Marilyn]]:
56	-->'''Miles:''' [[spoiler:She's rich now! ...and I love her. I don't have to kill her!]]
57	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The depiction of divorce and how only the lawyers benefit from it is appropriately cynical. Even in a romcom.
58	* SlowClap: After Miles' speech before NOMAN
59	* SpitTake: When Marilyn is sitting with her friends and telling them about Gus catching Rex in the act, one of her friends mentions she's having her husband followed to see who he's cheating with, at which point another of Marilyn's friends spits out her drink. Curiously, no one gets suspicious of this.
60	** Later, when Miles, Wrigley and Rex are meeting with Freddie and Marilyn in Miles' office, Freddie says Marilyn is going after 50% of Rex's assets, at which point Miles spits out the water he was drinking.
61	* ThatWasObjectionable:
62	** The put-upon opposing lawyer, Bender, keeps trying to object to Massey's CourtroomAntics with grounds ranging from the ridiculously feeble ("Uh... poetry recital?") to the ludicrously unnecessary ("Objection! ''Strangling the witness!''"). The judge's response is invariably "I'm going to allow it."
63	** When we see him off-duty, Wrigley is wearing a T-shirt that reads "Objection!"
64	* ThrowingOutTheScript: Miles does this with his keynote speech at the NOMAN divorce lawyer conference.
65	* ThrowTheDogABone: After the husband in the beginning was left a bum by Massey, Marilyn manages to help him get him get back on top [[spoiler: in exchange for getting her in contact with Doyle.]]
66	* VaderBreath: Wheezy Joe and Herb Myerson (Miles Massey's boss.)
67	* WhosOnFirst: When Rex tries to find out if Miles and Wrigley have ever argued a case before this judge before:
68	-->'''Rex:''' Have you sat before her before?\
69	'''Miles:''' No, no. The judge sits first, then we sit.\
70	'''Rex:''' ({{Beat}}) Well, have you sat after her before?\
71	'''Wrigley:''' Sat after her before? You mean, have we argued before her before?\
72	'''Miles:''' The judge sits in judgement. The counsel argues before the judge.\
73	'''Rex:''' So, have you argued before her before?\
74	'''Wrigley:''' Before ''her'' before, or before she ''sat'' before?\
75	'''Rex:''' Before ''her'' before. I said before her before.\
76	'''Wrigley:''' No, you said before she ''sat'' before.\
77	'''Rex:''' Well, I did at first, but-\
78	'''Miles:''' Look; don't argue.\
79	'''Rex:''' I'm not! But-\
80	'''Wrigley:''' You don't argue. ''We'' argue.\
81	'''Miles:''' Counsel argues.\
82	'''Wrigley:''' You appear.\
83	'''Miles:''' Judge sits.\
84	'''Wrigley:''' Then you sit.\
85	'''Miles:''' Or, you'd stand in contempt.\
86	'''Wrigley:''' Then, we argue.\
87	'''Miles:''' ''Counsel'' argues.\
88	'''Rex:''' Which you've done before?\
89	'''Miles:''' Which we've done before.\
90	'''Rex:''' Ah.\
91	'''Wrigley:''' But not before her.

Context Film / IntolerableCruelty