We resume the Unseen Coens Watch-through! Today was Intolerable Curelty, a trailer I remember seeing on TV One Million times. It’s a great premise, and Clooney and Zeta Jones are at their peak here, but it just doesn’t fully come together.
There’s a phenomenal movie in there somewhere. The magic of the Coens lies in that perfect balance between Joel’s craft and Ethan’s zaniness. Here the balance is just a little off in favor of zany that leads to few emotional beats to sink your teeth into. It careens from one setup to the next with nary a moment to breathe.
This is a unique situation where I feel like I’m the hands of a more sentimental film maker like Nancy Meyers this could be a romcom classic. Or if it were an Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore out-and-out comedy it could be a laugh riot.
Even so, there’s plenty of laughs and great lines. Richard Jenkins is throwing 150 miles an hour, Billy Bob Thornton shows up for five minutes and is a blast every second he’s on screen. Same for Geoffrey Rush and the grandpa from Gilmore Girls. The twist is fantastic.
We are almost done! Next we jump ahead all the way to Hail Caesar!(!)
We resume the Unseen Coens Watch-through! Today was Intolerable Curelty, a trailer I remember seeing on TV One Million times. It’s a great premise, and Clooney and Zeta Jones are at their peak here, but it just doesn’t fully come together.
There’s a phenomenal movie in there somewhere. The magic of the Coens lies in that perfect balance between Joel’s craft and Ethan’s zaniness. Here the balance is just a little off in favor of zany that leads to few emotional beats to sink your teeth into. It careens from one setup to the next with nary a moment to breathe.
This is a unique situation where I feel like I’m the hands of a more sentimental film maker like Nancy Meyers this could be a romcom classic. Or if it were an Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore out-and-out comedy it could be a laugh riot.
Even so, there’s plenty of laughs and great lines. Richard Jenkins is throwing 150 miles an hour, Billy Bob Thornton shows up for five minutes and is a blast every second he’s on screen. Same for Geoffrey Rush and the grandpa from Gilmore Girls. The twist is fantastic.
We are almost done! Next we jump ahead all the way to Hail Caesar!(!)
