This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Love and Money
Plot Overview
Tolstoy said it best, “All
happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in
its own way.” IC treats us to unhappiness reaching the sad
crescendo of divorce. Television producer Donovan Donaly (Geoffrey
Rush) comes home unexpectedly to find his wife Bonnie (Stacey
Travis) entertaining under the sheets her cretinous
acquaintance Ollie (Jack Kyle) the pool guy, and they don't even
own a pool. Mrs. Gutman (Judith Drake) testifies in court that
her husband made her his sex slave w/gizmos … except for the
time he was away in the service, and then the tennis pro
“David and Goliath” filled in. Gold-digger Marylin
Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) carefully selected a silly,
rich, philanderer Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) to wed who broke
her heart with a train load of floozies.
Slick L.A. shyster Miles Massey (George Clooney) saves
Rex's bacon thus impressing Marylin who perceiving Miles has the
hots for her, manipulates him into a Vegas ceremony. She
forthwith proceeds to fleece him. His boss Herb Myerson (Tom
Aldredge), to preserve the firm's winning reputation, has Massey
put out a hit on her. When her ex suddenly dies, having never
changed his will, it is she who is vulnerable, if they can call off
the hit in progress.
Ideology
Massey explains to his assistant Wrigley (Paul Adelstein) the nature of divorce proceedings. Both parties stake their claims, then comes a negotiation resulting in an equilibrium point dependent on the skills of the respective attorneys, each party getting his or her portion. Massey doesn't use that approach, he goes for total destruction. This results in big losers and big winners. Society prefers the compromise, the give and take as per the writing of Sam Savage: “Life is short, but it is still possible to learn a few things before you pop off. One of the things I have observed is how extremes coalesce. Great love becomes great hatred, quiet peace turns into noisy war, vast boredom breeds huge excitement” (89). (Proverbs 30:7) “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:”
(Prov. 30:8-9) “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” Marriage in this movie is rife with vanity and lies. There's the pool guy servicing a nonexistent pool, a sex slave to “Goliath,” a grown man who plays with trains, and even a fraudulent marriage that's an outright lie.
The
conveniently fed middle-of-the-roader is amply illustrated
here, as well. Donovan sings words from “The
Boxer” by Paul Simon: “I am just a poor boy, though
my story's seldom told … [Asking only workman's wages
I go looking for a job, but I get no offers]” as he beats a
tattoo on the steering wheel of his Jag. When he encounters Ollie, he tells his
wife, “I'm glad he finally got himself a job. I always
thought he was some kind of deadbeat.” There's Rex with his
train fetish, singing the traditional, “I've been working on
the railroad all the livelong day.” For a typical
working man in this movie we have a gumshoe Gus Petch (Cedric
The Entertainer) whose job it is to track down wayward
spouses and photograph them in the act (“nail their
asses.”) Massey has a conference with him & Wrigley
(“Why are we eating here?”) in a greasy spoon
frequented by Gus. Massey orders their regular fare, “a ham
sandwich on stale rye bread. Lots of mayo, easy on the ham,”
and, “what the hell, a slaw cup.” There's also a Muriel
Massey who now works as night manager at McDonald's.
Massey's success was got after 129,999 lunches charged, and fine dining at that, but he was left bored and morose. Marylin's thrice divorced friend Sarah Sorkin (Julia Duffy) lives in a palatial mansion with forty-six rooms, but she's all alone with only her peptic ulcer to keep her warm. She's forgotten God, of course.
Donovan got taken to the cleaners in
his divorce, and we see him unwashed & unshaven, sleeping on
magazines in a doorway next to his Daytime
Television Lifetime Achievement Award: the only
thing he took with him. Marylin ended up sleeping on Sarah's couch,
which drove her to fraud, stealing and a false oath—in Bible
days swearing was done in God's name.
Production Values
“”
(2003) was directed by Coen brothers Joel and Ethan. It was written
by Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone and John Romano. It stars George
Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Geoffrey Rush, Edward Hermann,
and Billy Bob Thornton offered good support. There was palpable
chemistry between Clooney and Zeta-Jones. She modeled her sexuality
from Katharine Hepburn. The cast seemed to be having a good time.
MPA rated it PG–13 for sexual content, language and
brief violence. The script is funny and clever. The film is
beautifully made and well paced. There are three scenes in
which characters sing and move to folk tunes as well as one
sporting a configuration of men prancing in kilts, so I pegged it
as a musical though it doesn't use show tunes per se. Runtime is
1 hour 40 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
Miles and Marylin get hitched in a funky chapel in Las Vegas, which could stand for any religion as none is specified. Marylin's lawyer/witness Freddy Bender (Richard Jenkins) failed to show up, but Wrigley was there with Miles, and the minister could himself fill in as the necessary second witness in a pinch. This would not have worked had they been wed by Massey's favorite judge (“I'll allow it”) Marna Munson as the witnesses would in that case be officers of the court, and the first amendment's establishment clause forbids the government from establishing a religion, marriage being as Augustine described it, a domestic church. There's a rule against a justice of the peace using her staff as witnesses, and I suppose it would apply more broadly. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be any religious content.
This is another of the Coen brothers' inimitable funny farces, and I thought it quite humorous though the plethora of characters made it hard at times to keep track of them all. Not everybody shares my taste, but I liked it.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Savage, Sam. Firmin. © Sam Savage 2006. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org