Revisionist Screwball Comedy

                Intolerable Cruelty is a film about a greedy woman named Marilyn who is seeking financial independence, and Miles, a lawyer, who gets caught in her machinations.  Marilyn finds herself in Miles’s office, because he is her former husband’s divorce attorney. They go out to dinner together, and verbally spar with one another. Soon after, Marylin marries a wealthy oil tycoon, with the intent to divorce him ASAP after the wedding, so she can inherit his fortune. She engages Miles’s professional help, and utilizes his famed Massey Prenup, so that she can tear it up after the wedding and inherit the money. After the divorce, Marilyn falls for Miles, and the two marry with a Massey Prenup. When Marilyn tears it up, Miles discovers that Marilyn’s husband is just an actor, and not wealthy at all. Now his own wealth is exposed, and Marilyn stands to inherit half of it. When they meet to negotiate their divorce, Miles begs for another chance, and they sign a Massey Prenup, which Marilyn tears up yet again.

                Since classical screwball comedies place great value upon the institution of marriage, and this film emphasizes the values of divorce and single life, it should be considered a revisionist screwball comedy. Classical screwball comedies show two partners constantly trying to gain back the lost attention and love of their lover throughout the film. Miles prepares to give a great speech on the values of single life, and Marilyn enters nearly four marriages to gain independence and wealth, and she willingly turns over her body and herself to several men just to attain money. In essence, she is only a glorified prostitute. The last marriage in the film between Miles and Marilyn is a joke; they hardly know anything about each other, and their infatuation is only rekindled after several wild goose chases and Miles’s last attempt at rectifying his reputation. In this revisionist screwball comedy, the love, if it can be called that, was on again, off again, and the value of the institution of marriage was greatly discarded by both parties.  Additionally, the ending marriage gives no promise or hope of lasting; it is clearly infatuation, and the audience knows that. Because of the attitude toward marriage in the film and the little hope it gives of the final marriage lasting, the film should be considered a revisionist screwball comedy, since it is ultimately not about love, but about divorce.