The concept is hardly original, derived in part from David Mirkin's cynical "Heartbreakers" just two years ago about mother-and-daughter con artists who marry men and take them for everything they're worth in divorce settlements. A mom has her daughter play up to rich guy, marry them, and then catch them the next day in adulterous relationships (manipulated by the mom). In "Intolerable Cruelty," a gold-digging femme fatale, Marylin (Catherine Zeta-Jones), marries rich guys like real- estate tycoon Rex Rexroth and, after a messy divorce in which matrimonial hotshot attorney Miles (George Clooney) successfully blocks her plea for a large settlement, decides to get even. She does through a scheme involving a hitch-up to alleged oil tycoon Howard D. Doyle (Billy Bob Thornton), a marriage destined to end in the usual style.

Among the factors marring this production aside from the absence of Coen-ic wit is the mugging for the camera not only by Miles (George Clooney's specialty) but by his associate attorney Wrigley (Paul Adelstein). The one Coen signature comes through in embarrassing monologues fed to the two attorneys by the head of the firm, the wheezy 87-year-old founder (Irwin Keyes). Nor is the film aided by the absurdities in logic. Under California law, property acquired during marriage is to be split evenly. In one particular case of matrimony entered into by Marylin, the couple split up the very day after the nuptials with Marylin hoping to get half of her new husband's property. You don't need a legal secretary, much less someone with Miles's knowledge, to see through this.