The next scene parallels the very first, pre credits, scene of the movie in that it is another caught -in flagrantly shtick that sets up another divorce case involving Miles Massey. Only this time it is the husband, Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) who is caught in the act, not by his wife, but rather by a private detective, Gus Petch (Cedric the Entertainer) hired by the wife. The scene has a lot of energy since Gus Petch barges into the room with a video camera and hand held light yelling “I’m goin nail your a*$”.  

            The next scene we are introduced to Marylin (Catherine Zeta-Jones). She’s the soon-to-be-ex-wife who hired Gus Petch. She is in Gus Petch’s office watching the recorded hijinks on a monitor. The scene concludes happily with Marylin saying: “This is going to be my passport to wealth, independence and freedom.”  

            Divorce Lawyer Commentary: Folks, this is a five year marriage. Now granted Rex Rexroth is rich (actually that needs some qualifications as will become evident), but his wealth is “exposed” only to the extent that it has increased during the marriage and only to the extent of one half of that increase. That’s community property law, which abides in California and a host of other states. This fifty percent of marital gain analysis is also central in marital property states, such as Colorado, where I practice. Now it is quite possible that fifty percent of Rex Rexroth’s increase in wealth during the five year marriage is significant. As it happens it’s not. But that doesn’t make any difference for the movie. The concept of marital gain is never dealt with in the movie. Nor should it be, it’s a movie for goodness sakes. But  heads up on the concept because I will be discussing it later on.    

            Also note this is a comedy. And as a comedy that deals with divorce it does not deal at all with a divorce involving children. Good move. It would  be hard to make a comedy out of that.  

            The next scene we see Rex Rexroth vainly trying to placate Marylin over the intercom at the front gate of his mansion. Marylin sics two Rottweilers on him. Rex jumps into his Mercedes and calls Miles’ office on his cell phone.  

            Divorce Attorney Commentary: It is not at all that clear that Marylin could assert such aggressive control of the marital residence. Was there any prior domestic violence against her (preferably of record, preferably a conviction) to warrant changing the locks and sicking the Rotts? If not, Marylin could find herself on the wrong end of a restraining order.  

            Now we see Rex Rexroth across the desk from Miles at Miles’ office. What follows is another of what we in the divorce biz call the “retaining interview”. You may recall that the first retaining interview of the movie was Bonnie Donley. In this interview  Rex Rexroth discloses to Miles that he has, currently, no net worth because of a big deal that is up in the air. Rex inquires whether Miles could get him off Scot free in the divorce from Marylin. Miles takes the case saying to himself  it would be a challenge.  

            Divorce attorney commentary. The Rexroth/Miles retaining interview scene is wonderful and dead on in very many aspects. Edward Herrman does a fine  job at presenting, from the divorce attorney’s point of view, a good client. He readily admits his failings in the marriage; he bears no guilt nor any ill will; and he presents an outline of his financial situation without the attorney having to pull teeth. In the movie with all the unreal emphasis on marital misconduct (see discussion above) when Miles accepts the challenge to get Rex Rexroth out of the marriage without having to pay anything to his soon-to-be ex wife it seems like a big deal. In reality, assuming Rex has zero net worth it would not be unusual at all for him to get off Scot free. What’s very real is that Miles is willing to take on a professional challenge from such a genial and to-the-point client. .  

            The next scene shows Marylin, pool side with friends. Hollywood divorces, wives, soon-to-be-divorces. She learns what a renown divorce attorney Miles is.  

            The next scene is that of the settlement conference between the parties in Marriage of Rexroth.  Here our destined lovers,  Miles and Marylin,  meet each other. We are introduced to Freddie Bender (Richard Jenkins who of all the divorce attorney characters in the movie, was most convincing. He gets all the good, or at least most realistic lines.) The conference ends in deadlock with the parties and counsel wishing each other well until court. Miles and Marylin are obviously smitten with each other.  

            Divorce Attorney commentary: The conference bears little resemblance to pre trial settlement conferences that I know. There is some game playing by attorneys but nothing close to the get-the-goat-off-the-bat tactics of Miles. Also, possible reconciliation is never (at least in my experience) breached. Freddie Bender, Marylin’s attorney,  has realistic lines. He offers to settle for 50% of the marital assets (which are assets acquired during the five year marriage and marital gain on separate assets  held during the marriage), which is dead on.    

            As the movie moves along Miles hires Gus Petch to burgle Marylin’s residence in search of information; then, the night that Petch is burgling, Miles has dinner with Marylin where the necessary Hollywood sparks fly. The next day Miles and Wrigley meet with Gus Petch at a diner and Gus delivers microfilm of photographs he took of Marylin’s address book. Miles hands the film over to Wrigley to look for Marylin’s “Tensing Norgay”. When Wrigley inquires Miles suavely explains: “That person who helped get Marylin to the top.”  

            Divorce Attorney Commentary: Private investigators can be used in divorces. But only rarely to uncover peccadilloes; rather they are most often used to uncover assets. And they can be important if they are necessary. No use going into the felonies and other disbarrable offenses Miles committed during the sequence. The whole “Tensing Norgay” patter works fine in the movie and bears no relation to reality.  

            The next scene is the trial of the Rexroth divorce. The viewer learns that Miles had been able to find a “Tensing Norgay” in the form of Heins the Baron “Puffy” Von Espie (Jonathan Hudary). Puffy who had been the concierge at a fancy hotel to introduce Marylin to Rex Rexroth. Miles puts “Puffy” on the stand to testify about Marylin’s explicitly stated gold digging motives, and achieves absolute victory. The scene is well paced and very funny. Hudary’s “Puffy” is a Germanic Noel Coward on swish steroids.  

            Divorce Attorney Commentary: The scene also bears little relationship to reality. The issue at court would be the nature and extent of marital gain. Maintenance (Alimony) could also be at play, but, then they would be talking about Marylin’s level of education and  work experience, not what her motives were when she married Rex Rexroth.  

            The next couple of scenes show Marylin commiserating with her friend Sarah Sorkin (Julia Duffy) about her total defeat at the hands of Miles. In turn Sarah  (who has emerged much more successfully from her divorces) bemoans her loneliness for fear of exposing her substantial assets to “palimony”.   

            Divorce Attorney Commentary: “Palimony” is not much of a factor nowadays. I don’t see it in my practice and I don’t read about such things plaguing the rich. Sarah should have her fling with the gardener.  

            The next scene we see Marylin walking in a rather unsavory neighborhood where she finds Donovan Donley (remember, Geoffrey Rush) literally in the gutter. She nudges him with her foot and asks him for a “name”. Trust me, this will figure in later   

            Divorce Attorney Commentary: The scene works to advance the plot. The implication that Miles/Bonnie Donley achieved absolute victory over Donovan Donley...not real.  

            The next scene shows Miles in his office dictating various matters. He’s interrupted to be told that his firm’s aged head partner, Herb Myerson (Tom Aldrege), wants to see him. Aldrege whose character is hooked to up to a Rube Goldberg system of ventilators and dialysis machines plays the scene part corpse part dybuck. He commends  Miles for his “billable hours”, “summary judgments”, and “lunches” and  rants about how Miles is so important to the “firm”  pronounced “foim”.  

            Divorce Attorney Commentary: The old guy may be happy about billable hours but the mention of summary judgments rings false.  Don’t get me wrong, there are no shortage of motions, both pre permanent orders and post permanent orders to make in a divorce, to keep the billable hours going, but a motion for summary  judgment in a divorce is very, very rare.   

            The scene before the Myerson interview, with Miles dictating is revealing from a divorce point of view: “....and of course we’ll have to litigate...naturally the first concern of everybody is little Wendle...nevertheless the Petitioner questions the need for special education expense  given the great strides little Wendle ....” . That semi-stream of counciousness dictation does capture some of the dynamic and irony of custody battles:  litigating the issue often diminishes the material resources available to raise the child.

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