â All Movies
Intolerable Cruelty
Donovan Donaly, a TV soap opera producer, walks in on his wife Bonnie being intimate with an ex-boyfriend. He files for divorce, and she hires Miles Massey, a top divorce attorney and the inventor of the "Massey pre-nup", a completely foolproof prenuptial agreement. Miles wins a large property settlement against Donaly, leaving him broke.
Meanwhile, private investigator Gus Petch tails the wealthy and married Rex Rexroth on a drunken night out with a blonde. When they stop at a motel, he catches their tryst on video. Gus takes the video to Rex's wife, Marylin Rexroth, a marriage-for-money predator.
Marylin files for divorce, demanding a large property settlement. Unable to afford a divorce settlement, Rex hires Miles to represent him. Marylin's friend, serial divorcée Sarah Sorkin, warns her that Miles will be a dangerous opponent.
Marylin and her lawyer, Freddy Bender, fail to reach an agreement with Miles and Rex. The bored Miles asks the fascinating Marylin to dinner, where they flirt. While they are out, Gus breaks into her house and copies her address book for Miles, who has his assistant search among the names for Marylin's accomplice in arranging predatory marriages.
In court, Marylin feigns an emotional breakdown over Rex's infidelity, professing that she loved Rex unconditionally at first sight. Miles then calls "Puffy" Krauss von Espy, a Swiss hotel concierge. Puffy testifies that Marylin asked him to find her a marriage target who was very rich, foolish, and a philanderer whom she could easily divorce, and that he pointed her to Rex. The divorce is granted, but she gets nothing.
Seeking revenge against Miles, Marylin finds the now-penniless Donaly living on the street, still clutching his Emmy statuette, and offers him a chance to reclaim his lost glory. Soon after, she shows up at Miles' office with her new fiancĂ©, oil millionaire Howard D. Doyle. Marylin insists on the Massey prenupâwhich will make it absolutely impossible for her to claim any of her fiancĂ©e's assets in the event of a divorceâover both Howard and Miles's objections. However, Howard destroys it during the wedding, as a demonstration of love.
Six months later, Miles goes to Las Vegas, to give the keynote address at a convention for divorce attorneys. He encounters Marylin, who has divorced Howard and presumably collected a sizable share of the Doyle Oil fortune. However, she admits that she is disenchanted with her wealthy but lonely life.
Miles marries Marylin on the spur of the moment, and signs the Massey prenup to prove that he has no interest in her fortune, but she tears it up. The next morning, Miles tells the convention that love is the most important thing, and that he is giving up divorce for pro bono work.
Shortly afterwards, Miles discovers that "Howard D. Doyle" is just an actor from one of Donaly's soap operas; Marylin tricked him, leaving his considerable wealth at risk. Desperate to save the firm's reputation, Miles' boss, Herb Myerson, suggests hiring hitman "Wheezy Joe" to kill Marylin.
Miles then learns that Marylin's ex-husband Rex has died without changing his will, leaving her his entire fortune. Since she is now the wealthier of the two parties, his assets are no longer at risk. Repentant, Miles rushes to save Marylin from Joe, but she has already offered to pay him double to kill him instead. In the confusion of the ensuing struggle, Joe mistakes his gun for his asthma inhaler and accidentally kills himself.
Later, Miles, Marylin, and their lawyers meet to negotiate a divorce. Miles pleads for a second chance and retroactively signs a Massey prenup. Realizing her own feelings for him, she tears it up, and they kiss. Marylin reveals that to get Donaly's help for supplying Howard, she gave him an idea for a hit TV show, restoring his fortunes in the process: America's Funniest Divorce Videos, with Gus as the host.