Verdict: As entertaining as a prenuptial contract.

By STEVE MURRAY
The Atlanta Journal Constitution

It's neither cruel nor intolerable, but “Intolerable Cruelty” is the least interesting of all the Coen brothers' movies.

Maybe it's because they're working with someone else's script for the first time, but the result lacks the idiosyncratic flavor familiar from the writer-directors' “Raising Arizona,” “Fargo” or “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” The movie is a display of two high-wattage stars sweating to enliven a paper-thin script that substitutes plot twists for an engaging story.

The stars are George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. He's marital-law attorney Miles Massey, famed for an airtight prenuptial contract that bears his name. She's Marylin Rexroth, a gold-digging vamp whose business is marrying wealthy men, then bilking them in divorce court.

When her husband, Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), is caught cavorting with a blonde in a motor court, Marylin's plan to take him to the cleaners falls apart when Rex's rep (Miles, naturally) digs up a surprise witness whose testimony shoots down the aggrieved wife's claims.

Marylin plots revenge, and Miles makes himself an easy target by falling in love with this temptress who's as ruthless in the bedroom as he is in court.

What follows is less a movie than a plot schematic, an uneasy attempt to marry film noir-style double-crosses with screwball comedy. It doesn't gel.

Several scenes revolve around the decision to rip up, as a display of romantic-financial trust, a copy of Massey's prenup. You may wish it was Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone's script being ripped up instead. (The Coen Brothers did rewrite the screenplay . . . but apparently not enough.)

“Intolerable Cruelty” includes ample plot reversals and even attempted murder. But the stakes are never high, because the lead characters are merely pawns on the script's game board.

Clooney and Zeta-Jones work hard, and they're big-screen gorgeous. Clooney is remarkably assured as an old-Hollywood-style leading man who's constantly mocking his own image. But the movie's fitful bursts of energy mainly come from supporting players.

Cedric the Entertainer, as a door-busting private eye who specializes in catching cheating husbands on tape, raises the film's pulse in his brief appearances. (But his signature line — “I'm gonna nail yo' [butt]” — gets overworked.) Jonathan Hadary (accessorized with a tiny white lapdog) makes the most of his cameo as the surprise witness.

Billy Bob Thornton brings good ol' boy goofiness to the part of an oil-rich Texan who catches Marylin's eye. Mary Pat Gleason's surly waitress steals her tiny scene. Geoffrey Rush sports a silly ponytail. And Irwin Keyes as a hitman named Wheezy Joe has a slapstick moment with a handgun and an asthma inhaler that provides the sole twisted laugh that feels like it belongs in a Coen brothers movie.

Like the TV commercials for “Anything Else,” which buried the fact that it's a Woody Allen film, publicity for “Intolerable Cruelty” has omitted the Coens' names. There's a reason for that. Compared with their previous films, their new one has an irreconcilable differentness.

Inside AJC.COM

Weekend plans?

Andy Roddick play in a charity tennis tourney; Mary J. Blige, Taste of Atlanta and more

Get outside and play!

From hiking & biking to golf & tennis, just do it.

At home with Vince Dooley

The coaching legend has a green thumb to go along with his allegiance to red and black.

-->

Need new wheels?

Compare new & used cars, find car shows, search listings.

Zoo Atlanta

Lions and tigers and bears — oh my! Here's your guide to Zoo Atlanta.

Entertainment on a dime

Save a little (or a lot) when you're planning fun things to do with friends this week.

Atlanta's favorite recipes

Here are 11 of the most-clicked recipes on EveningEdge.com.

Let Fido play!

Find a dog park near you.

Popcorn and a show

Movie previews, reviews and trailers to help you make your theatre decision.