A Divorce Lawyer's take on the movie;
Intolerable CrueltyPage 1...2...3
A Divorce Lawyer's take on the movie;
Intolerable Cruelty
Page 1...2...3
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Divorce
Attorney Commentary. The nature, use and dynamic of prenuptial
agreements in divorce law is another area where the movie strays far
from reality. Pre nuptial agreements have been common for decades where
at least one of the parties is rich. That much is true. Recently pre-nups
have moved to the aspiring rich (just about everybody else)
which, in this practitioner's opinion is highly problematic---
especially when the couple anticipate having children. What prenups can
and cannot do is discussed elsewhere in this web site. Suffice to say,
in broad terms, yes in destroying the prenup Howard D. Doyle did leave
himself “exposed” to the depredations of gold digger Marylin. But,
assuming the marriage is very short, Doyle is only marginally exposed.
See prior discussion of marital gain.
Six months later Marylin has indeed divorced Howard D. Doyle. We
find Miles on a plane on his way to Las Vegas to address the National
Association of Matrimonial Attorneys (NOMAN) as in “What God has
joined let NOMAN tear asunder” get it? Anyway, the plot thickens as
the scenes unfold: Marylin happens to be in Las Vegas as well, with her
attorney, Freddie Bender who is also attending the convention. Word of
her famous settlement from the Doyle divorce has spread far and wide.
Miles continues to carry a torch for Marylin and wouldn’t you know?
everybody is staying at the same Las Vegas hotel. Miles accosts Marylin
in the red elevator scene which was used for the movie’s posters and
promo. A whirlwind courtship ensues culminating in their marriage in a
quickie Scottish theme chapel. Now, at the chapel a very big deal is
made of the signing of yet another “Massey Penup” by which
Marylin’s fortune (obtained in the Doyle settlement) would be safe
from Miles’ marital attack in the event of divorce. In the bedroom
scene after the ceremony Marylin asks Miles if she can trust him. When
he says of course she tears up the pre-nup. A crescendo of music as the
scene dissolves while they embrace and consummate the Miles/Marylin
marriage.
Next day Miles delivers an impassioned and extempore key note
address to the NOMAN convention extolling the virtues of love and
commitment. Very funny, I recommend seeing the video/DVD. After the
speech Miles and Wrigley (remember, this guy is in just about every
scene with Miles. It makes you wonder) belly up to the bar to celebrate
Miles’ marriage and career change from divorce lawyer to pro bono “whatever”.
It is then, while glancing at the television screen above the
bar--which is showing a daytime soap opera featuring the Howard D. Doyle
as a surgeon, Miles realizes
he has been duped. There was no Howard D. Doyle, the Billy Bob Thornton
character was a soap opera actor all the time and Marylin had no fortune
to protect from a lovey dovey Miles. Alas and alack, it is Miles, who,
remember is quite a successful divorce lawyer, who has the substantial
assets. It is Miles who is the divorce “target” now and “... there’s
no prenup!!” Miles races up to his honeymoon suite only to find
Marylin packed and leaving. Marylin informs Miles that she will be
obtaining a restraining
order against him “after an
appropriate interval” which would effectively keep him away from
Marylin’s house. “My house” Miles
corrects her. “It will come out
of the settlement” Marylin says, and sashays out of the honeymoon
suite.
A
fine farce. Bogus divorce law. The marriage is of infinitesimal length
and so to is Miles’ exposure. But lets not get in the way of all the
fun.
The next series of scenes chronicle the progress of
Marylin’s divorce from Miles. Back in LA. Marylin pines even as she
sows the destruction of her one true love while Miles gets reprimanded
by head partner Herb Myerson for injuring the firm’s cutthroat
reputation by being such a patsy.
Of course the only solution is to take out a contract on Marylin.
So Miles hires hit man “Wheezy Joe” to kill Marylin.
Immediately after the scene where Miles and the ever present
Wrigley hire Wheezy Joe, the movie shows Rex Rexroth suffering a heart
attack while engaging in railroad recreation. Why the cut to Rex Rexroth
bidding adieu? Because Rex never changed his will after his divorce from
Marylin. The will still left everything to Marylin. Moreover since the
divorce from Marylin, Rex Rexroth had experienced a strong upturn in
fortune. Rex had been rich, and so, because she was his sole heir, was
Marylin.
Divorce
Attorney Commentary: This could happen assuming a
poorly drafted will and a Rex Rexroth who has better things to do
than to change it. What’s unlikely is the absence of Rexroth heirs who
would contest the will.
Miles is called by Rex Rexroth’s attorney and advised of all of
these developments. Miles
immediately realizes there is no reason to kill Marylin because now in
the divorce Marylin was more of a target than he was. Miles and Wrigley
immediately depart for Miles’/Marylin’s house to stop Wheezy Joe
from carrying out his mission. Unbeknownst to Miles, Marylin’s
Rottweilers have cornered Wheezy Joe, who makes a deal with Marylin to
kill Miles (she doubled Miles’ price). Hilarity ensues as Miles and
Wrigley play cat and mouse with Wheezy Joe in the darkened home before
Wheezy Joe confuses his automatic with
his inhaler to devastating effect.
The next and concluding scene is a settlement conference that
mirrors the earlier Rexroth settlement conference. Only Miles is now a
party and Wrigley his attorney. They are on one side of the impressive
conference table with, again, Marylin
and her attorney Freddie Bender on the other side. Freddie Bender utters
some lines of great divorce attorney verisimilitude
which will be discussed below.
Miles and Marylin realize they love each other; Miles offers yet
another pre-nup, but Marylin tears it up, “totaling
exposing herself” and
the couple embrace. Crescendo... Divorce Attorney Commentary: As alluded above, Freddie Bender (Richard Jenkins) has the most convincing divorce attorney lines in the movie. At the concluding settlement conference he attempts to finesse the whole issue of Wheezy Joe-- you know, Miles taking a contract out on Marylin and vice versa by saying: “Let’s forget about Wheezy Joe, nobody hired anybody to kill anybody. It was all an unfortunate accident.” Now that’s good divorce attorney. A good divorce attorney, like a good surgeon, will try to accomplish the separation with a minimum of damage.
And then the final scene shows Donovan Donley (remember, Geoffrey
Rush, whose character we see at the very beginning and very end of the
movie) producing an incredibly sleazy/absurd/reality send-up entitled
America’s funniest divorce videos in which Marylin (and now Miles)
have an interest. Gus Petch ( remember, Cedric the Entertainer) is the
host with the tag line: “I’ll nail your a*$!!!”. Finish
QUICK
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Immediately after his surreal interview with
Myerson a rather shaken Miles is recovering in his office when he is
told that Marylin is waiting to see him. To his surprise he finds her
accompanied by Howard D. Doyle (Billy Bob Thornton), a scion of a
wealthy oil and gas fortune. Marylin and Howard D. Doyle are engaged to
be married. Marylin tells Miles she wants him to draft a bullet proof “Massey
Prenup” so that her fiancé can rest easy that she is not after
him for his money. Miles takes Marylin aside to ask her if she knows
what she’s doing. Marylin is adamant. In the next few scenes Miles
mopes over Marylin’s seeming pure and unselfish